In Love When You Can't Walk Nate Grey
by MemoryWriter
Summary: Sam is the old best friend of Connect3 memeber,Nate Grey.Her life's gone down the drain since Nate left.She lost her parents,her bility to walk,and hasn't steppd foot outside since.When Connect3 returns,can love spark for the wheelchair bound girl?
1. Welcome Back

****

CHAPTER 1

I was sitting in my garage, tinkering with some more of my things. I was sitting in a wheelchair. Why? I lost the ability to walk a long time ago, during an accident. Might sound hard, but it really isn't. I live with my sister, Annie. She's 19, so she watched me as my legal guardian. My parents died a while ago, in an accident., related to the reason I can't walk, but I'll deal with that problem later.

"Sam!" Annie called from the living room.

"In the garage!" I called, placing my screw driver back on the table. I accidentally knocked over a photo and it fell onto the ground. Good thing the frame was plastic. I kneeled over and picked it up. It was a picture of me and Nate Grey, my old best friend. I was 6 at the time, and Nate was 7. I hated how he was two months older than me. But hey, I was a little kid then. We got up set over the simplest of things.

I always complimented Nate on his singing. He liked doing it when no one was around, not including me. He always said that singing was girly, but I always made him laugh by saying, "Only real men sing." Much like how Annie always used to say "Real men wear pink." Still gets me laughing now a days. But in the present, it's pretty much normal for any person to sing, weather a girl or boy.

"Thinking about your boyfriend again?" Annie teased, finding me down here.

"Shut up," I said, smiling. One of these days, I'm gonna get a nice, fancy frame for this picture.

"I thought you'd be asleep," she said, coming next to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not tired."

Annie sighed. "Is it because we went to visit Mom and Dad's grave today?"

I stopped working on my little experiment and looked at Annie. "I guess so. Maybe it is now."

She rubbed my back. Because I couldn't walk, I was home schooled. And that did wonders for me. Annie says I'd be a A+ student. If only I could see the outside world. Actually, I haven't been outside since I was in the hospital and found out I couldn't use my legs anymore.

"Get some sleep," Annie said, starting to move my wheelchair up the long ramp and into the living room. "You're in for a big day tomorrow."

I blinked and looked up at her. "How's that?"

She just ruffled my short hair, as usual. I keep it short because it gets in the way when its long. I cut it last year. I fell into the water and my long hair got in the way of my sight as I tried to swim for my life without using my legs. "That's for me to know and for you to find out, little sis."

I rolled my eyes. We finally arrived in my bedroom, which was pretty clean. But hey, I can't walk. Can't do much, let alone make a mess. Once she wheeled me up to my bed, I used my arms and threw myself into bed.

I almost made Annie scream from fear. "God Sam! Don't do that!"

I gave her a peace sign as I placed the covers over myself. "I've been doing that for years, get over it."

"Good night!" she finished, closing the lights.

I sighed and noticed I left the photo in my wheelchair. I stretched my arm out, grabbing it. I sure missed Nate and his two older brothers, Jasson and Shane. They became famous and left home for their new career. Too bad I couldn't say goodbye. I was still in the hospital. And by the time I arrived back home with the bad news I couldn't walk, the Grey Family was gone. I would have cried, you know, losing your parents and then your best friend. But hey, at least he'll be living the dream, as I keep saying.

I keep making sure I know everything going on with Connect 3, always making sure they're OK. You'd call me a stalker if you didn't know me. I keep getting mad and pissed off whenever I'm online and there's people talking bad about them. Being inside a house for most of your life, you don't really get a chance to grow up. Don't worry, I know all the things about being 15. Annie took it upon herself to give me sex education, even though I already knew all about it, which surprised her and she grounded me... Not like that makes a difference with the grounding since I never leave the house.

--

I yawned, pressing the button on my alarm clock. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Morning already."

I got into my wheelchair and into the bathroom. I let the tub fill up and I jumped in, luckily without messing up the floor by making it wet. After bathing myself, I let the tub drain and I dried myself. I did a flip with my arms and landed in my wheelchair.

I grinned. "And score ten for Samantha Ashton!"

When I was little, I hated how Annie had to help with with _every _single thing. So I tired to get stronger with my arms so I could do flips and tricks to get places. It still wonders me why I'm not all bulky like those body builders with how strong I am. Oh well, probably a girl body thing.

"Morning!" I greeted, going into the living room.

"Hey," Annie said in a sing songy voice as she fixed the couches.

I smiled. "OK, why are you cleaning? I know you're supposed to clean but that's on Saturdays."

"Today's Saturday."

"Yeah but you usualy do it in a grumpy mood."

She laughed. "It's because we're having visitors today."

I made a face. "Since when do we get visitors?"

"One of my friends gave me a call," Annie explained. "Says he's in town and is coming by to see us."

"Great," I said sarcastically.

Annie has had many relationships with guys. All having gone down the drain. Apparently, they only liked her because of her hot looks or whatever. Then they'd push me aside because I'm annoying. And it's true. When I have too, Annie would regret seeing a guy and just want him out of the house. That's where I come in. I'd either annoy that guy to death by using a sling shot or water gun. I'd fire a variety of things: hot sauce, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, cheese, whipped cream, or my personal favorite, waaaaaay expired milk. Remember me in the garage yesterday night? I always work on specialty water guns, for those purposes and or any other. So by now, the closet in the garage is filled with many types of water guns. I make paint ball guns too, just for the fun of making the food condiment shooting more painful when needed. Not really used too much though. I wanted to annoy the guy out of the house, not pelt him until he goes unconsious.

"And Sam, please be nice," Annie said in a pleading voice. "I don't need you squirting the guys with pickle juice or whatever when they come through the front door."

My eyes widened. "Guys? As in more than one? Wow, is this gonna be like a boyfriend reunion party thing?"

Annie looked at me. "Just please, they're really nice guys. And I won't need back up from you."

"Fine, how long is it gonna be so I can arm myself?"

"Any minute now," Annie answered, looking at her watch.

"Which means bye bye," I said quickly as I wheeled myself into the garage, shutting the door.

Annie shook her head. "That girl's gonna thank me later."

I went down the long ramp. The garage was _downstairs_. So the long wooden stairs were replaced with ramps. It goes left, then right, then left, then right. Takes forever to go up and down.

Just when I get to the bottom, I heard the doorbell. I took a sigh of relief, glad I was already downstairs. I ignored the voices from the living room as I got started on my current gun. I got out of my wheelchair and hopped onto my chair. Well, it has wheels underneath, but it's like those ones that spin around. I like those better when downstairs.

"Sam? She's downstairs in the garage," I heard Annie say.

I groaned. She just _had_ to tell whoever it was I'm in the garage.

After a few seconds, the door opened. I kept my eyes to my experiment as I worked on it like it were an exam I really needed to focus on. I was gonna make this one a paint ball gun. Make it as painful as possible without making it lethal. I was gonna prank those boys to the point they'd run screaming-

"Sam?" I heard a guy's voice speak.

I sighed. "Yeah?"

Up I saw a boy with brown curly hair. He looked a little familiar until my head snapped. Nate Grey. The Nate that was my old neighbor. Over the years I was so worried about making sure he was fine, I didn't take the time to worry about if he even remembered me. Well, now I can worry.

"Sam!" he shouted, jumping down from the top and to the bottom. I would have done that if I could walk. He ran to me and threw his arms around me, almost knocking me out of my chair.

"Um, Nate?" I asked, still shocked.

"Oh come on Sam, please don't tell me you forgot me," he said, looking at me while holding my shoulders.

I blinked. Nate has really changed. Well, I knew how he was because of his fame, but compared to the little kid he was, his voice changed, his hair changed, his figure changed- Woah don't go there. "Don't worry Nate, I didn't forget about you. It's just... Wow what are you doing here?"

He laughed. "Sorry, my brothers and I wanted to have Annie keep it a surprise for you."

"Your brothers?" I repeated. "You mean you were the guys Annie was talking about?"

"Yeah pretty much."

I looked back at my desk, and Nate's eyes followed mine. I laughed nervously and threw off all the stuff on the desk and to the ground behind it. The gun was half finished and anyone could tell what it was.

Nate looked at me weird. "What was that?"

"Nothing that should meet your concern," I said with a grin.

Luckily, he shrugged it off. "Hey, come on. Shane and Jasson wanna see you too!"

Before I could speak, he grabbed my arm and pulled me. Well, he got me moving, along the they wheelie chair. He pulled me again, same results. "Sam stop playing and stand up."

I guess Nate doesn't know yet about the accident. I thought Annie would have told him beofre he came down here. "Uh, sorry Nate. I'm sorta tired and feel like sitting down for, uh, I don't know. Next two, four, weeks."

He sighed. "Whatever."

I was about to ask what he meant by that but he just threw me on his back and he carried my legs as my arms were around his neck. He ran up the ramp as I blushed. I was never given a piggy-back ride before. I've never traveled anywhere without a chair before. And for a first time it felt... kinda nice.

"Hey Sam-" Annie starred at me as I waved nervously from Nate's back. "Where's your um..."

I knew she was trying to say wheelchair. Was she trying to hide it from these guys? "Downstairs."

She gave a nod and I noticed two boys besides her as Nate set me down on the couch. "Shane? Jasson?"

"Wow you've grown up," Jasson said, looking at me.

"Yeah, pretty grown up," Shane agreed, nodding his head. "You're definitely not a little kid anymore."

"And you two changed as well," I said, just as surprised. Well, not too surprised. Who hasn't heard of Connect 3?

"So Nate, why were you carrying her before?" Annie asked.

He shrugged. "Dunno. She said she felt tired."

The three older teens laughed as Nate and I looked at eachother. I finally got the courage to speak up. "Um, did Annie here by any chance tell you about my 'condition'?"

The brothers starred at me. Shane spoke first. "What condition?"

"And why'd you use quotation marks around condition?" Jasson added.

"Uh, can I speak with you two in the kitchen?" Annie quickly interrupted, coming in between the two boys. "Sam, you go to your room with Nate. You two probably have a lot of catching up to do." And with that, Annie pushed Shane and Jasson into the kitchen.

"So..." I said awkwardly. "Wanna carry me to my room?"

Nick laughed and I got onto his back. I locked my arms around him again as he started walking.


	2. Ultimate Prank

By now, I was laying in my bed with Nate sitting in a chair meside me.

"So what were you talking about back there?" he asked.

I sighed, sitting upwards. "Well... do you remember when my parents and I got into that accident that night?"

I noticed Nate change his face. "Yeah, what about it? You still upset about your parents?"

"Um, a little bit I suppose," I said, scratching my head. "You know how I ended up in the hospital?"

"Yeah, you called me," Nate said, remmebering. "You were shot in your legs, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, about that. I got news that... I couldn't walk anymore. They said I was shot to much in the legs to use them anymore."

He looked a little sad. "I didn't know it was that bad."

I smiled, keeping my sight down. "Neither did I. I was lucky I can still keep my legs." I said, rubbing them. "Now I use a wheelchair to get around. By the time I got home, you and your family already left."

He nodded. "I'm sorry."

I took his hand. "Hey, at least it wasn't all bad. Annie and I had our grandma watch us. When she passed away, Annie was old enough to become my legal gaurdian. And I'm homeschooled, so I'm still OK."

"A+!!" Annie yelled from downstairs.

I laughed. "She says I have the IQ of whatever number she keeps making up. Either way she says I'm smart."

"Then I guess that explains the things you had on your desk at the garage."

I laughed again. I haven't laughed like this in a while. "I spend a lot of my spare time either on my labtop or in the garage working on... on..."

He moved his hand to siganl me to go on. "On...?"

"Uh, like I said I'm smart. I work on things," I said quickly.

"Whatever you say," Nate said, catching eye of my picture on my side table. "You still keep this?" He noticed a bunch of magazines and newspaper articles having to do with Connect 3 sticking out of the drawer. "And those?"

"Yeah. Call me weird, but ever since you, Shane, and Jasson becameConnect 3, I got worried and tried to keep up to date."

Nate looked surprised for a minute. "You were worried about us?"

"Well duh. I'm a reasonable girl. I know the rock star life isn't all perfect-perfect."

"Well, you got me there."

I arched an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Your probabaly the first girl that ever said to me that my life is not perfect."

I laughed. "Why, didn't any of your other girlfriends teart you like I ma right now?"

"Well, I guess, but not really. Nothing better than the original."

I made a face. "And what exactly does that mean?"

In a matter of seconds, we burst out laughing for no reason.

"Anyway," I choked out. "Enough about me. What about you?"

"Well, you probabaly know a lot about me by now," Nate strated. "For one, Jasson Shane, and I will be staying for the month. We're sorta on vacation from the concerts and stuff."

"That's good right?"

"In most cases, no. For us, there is no vacation."

"But...?"

He laughed. giving me another hug. "Here, I think I can actually enjoy myself with my best friend."

We got out of the hug. "I'm still your best friend?"

"Yeah. Out of all the girls I dated, I think I can finnaly just hang out with one."

I blushed. "Um, thanks?"

"Oh don't worry, that's a good thing."

I smiled. "Then do I feel relieved. At first I thought a couple of guys were coming over to Annie again. And here you are."

"Before anything, _again_?"

I rolled my eyes. "Annie's 19. She's a gown woman. By the time she was my age, she started drinking because of her first break up."

Nick blinked. "Your age? 15?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"Then continue."

"Well, after she got over her week-long depression, she got back on her feet and strated seeing other guys. Most treated me _and_ Annie like dirt and since she couldn't do anything about it, being the girlfriend, I needed to take actions into my own hand."

He looked at me suspicously. "How'd you do that?"

I laughed. "You'll find out in time, Nate."

"Hello," Jasson greeted, walking in with my wheelchair. "Hope I'm not interupting anything."

"Don't worry, Jasson. You're not," I assured as he brought the wheelchair beside my bed.

"Annie said I should bring this up so Nate won't break his back."

I scoffed. "I'm not that heavy, am I Nate?"

"That depends, what do you want the answer to be?"

I got my pillow and hit his head, knocking him off the chair.

"Ok," Jasson said, taking a step back. "Anyway, we need to go Nate. Shane said we still need to drop out stuff off at the hotel."

"Ugh, alright," Nate said, getting up then looking back at me. "I'll call you later?"

I nodded. "Still got my number?"

Both of us remained silent and took out our cellphones, giving them to eachother then dailing in our numbers.

Jasson smiled. "Aw, you two gonna date?"

Nate glared at his older brother. "Just because I exchage numbers with a girl, you always think I'm dating her."

"That's because it always is."

I giggled and Nate rolled his eyes. "Well this is different. Sam's my _best_ friend."

I smiled warmly as he gave my phone back and they left the room. "Best friend. Not girlfriend. That's right. I'm 15. I can't date yet-" I remembered telling Nate Annie started dating at 15. I slapped my forehead. "So much for childhood innocence."

"Thinking about Nate, I see," Annie said from the door, her arms crossed.

"No I'm not," I said automaticly. "I'm just a normal girl. Nothing special."

"Nothing except your the first _and_ current best friend of Nate Grey," Annie pointed out, sitting at the end of my bed. "And let's face it Sam, you're 15. You're like me, a mature woman."

I starred at her. "Where are you going with this?"

"Don't worry, it's like sex ed."

"Then get out of my room."

She laughed. "Chill, Sam. It's like Sex ed _because_ I'm gonna talk to you, woman to woman. As I said, you're grown up. You don't look 15 anyway. You look like a hot super model."

"Why isn't this making me feel any better?"

Annie sighed. "Sam, let's face the truth... Nate thinks you're hot."

I covered my ears. "NO! IT BURNS!"

She laughed, taking my wrists so my hands were off my ears. "Come on Sam, you knew this was gonna happen one day."

"Not with Nate," I whined, taking my wrists back. "I knew I'd start dating soon, and with some guy who'd understand me for me and not looks, but it turned out to be Nate Grey. And you say it's because I 'look hot'. That makes me feel soooo much better."

"Not only good looks," Annie added. "He knows you better than any guy does."

"He's the only guys who knows me."

"My point."

I laughed.

"Anyway, Nate's a grown man too. And after seeing all the kinds of girls out there, he knows you're the perfect example of the perfect girl."

I smiled. "You think so?"

"Trust me. Starting out longtime childhood best friends is always the start of a perfect relationship."

"I'm not going into any relationships," I assured. "We're just best friends on my view. For what he sees, I don't care. As long as nothing awkward comes into his eyes on me."

"Well you'll have to worry about yourself too," Annie said, coming to a conclusion. "You've got hormones too, since you turned into a teenager. And now that there are finnaly guys around, they gonna start kicking in." She closed the door and I yelled into my pilllow. How I hate when she's right.

--

"It was 7:00 and Annie was cooking dinner," I spend the day doing, well, whatever occupied me.

"Hi," I said, wheeling into the living room. "What'cha making?"

"Not for you," she said quickly. "I invited Robbie over."

I made a face. "How many people are you gonna invite in one day?"

Aninie laughed, placing a wooden spoon down. "For now, just Robbie. I'm having dinner with him here."

I groaned. "Annie, Robbie's not a good person."

"How would you know?"

"Last time he came here, he trashed my water gun, and locked me in the garage."

"That's because he knows you're the famous Underground Soldier who scares my dates away. He came prepared."

I rolled my eyes. "Even when in the garage, walls have ears, no matter how many levels low I'm at. I could tell you guys were making out."

"And this is news to you how?"

I shook my head. "Whatever. I'll just grab an apple and head back to my room."

I wheeled myself back to my room and shut the door. Didn't wanna be with Annie and her _boyfiend_. That was when I noticed the window open, my curtains flowing a little with the wind. "Weird, I know I didn't open that." I went there and shut it, only be attempted ot be scared out of my mind.

"BOOO!" yelled three familiar voices from behind me.

I turned the wheelchair around and starred blankly at them. "... I've been through a lot scarier things. You'll have to do better than that guys."

Nate, Shane, and Jasson groaned, knowing they were beat. I laughed as they went over to my bed.

"You sure we didn't scare you?" Shane asked.

I shook my head. "Like I said guys, been through worse. Now, what are you guys doing here?"

"We climbed in through your window," Jasson answered.

I gave him a look. "I know that part. I mean what are you doing _here_?"

"We got bored at the hotel and I thought we could drop by," Nate said with a shrug as if it were nothing.

"So why'd you sneak in through my bedroom window?"

"There was some dude out front with Annie," Shane answered.

My face fell. "That guy wastes no time getting here."

"Who is that guy anyway?" Jasson asked suspicously.

I rolled my eyes and wheeled myseld around the room. "Annie's current boyfriend. But I don't like him."

"Why?" all three boys asked.

"He locked me in the garage so he and Annie could have their _private _make-out session. And he beat me at my own game."

"She makes out with other guys?" Jasson asked, acting surprised. But then again, he may really be surprised. I remember he and Annie spent a lot of time together back then as childhood friends, like me and Nate.

"Of course Jasson. Annie's 19," I finnaly answered. "But guys fall easily for her because of looks. Don't you just hate that?"

After a few seconds, the guys staring agreeing when I found out they weren't answering. Over the past few years, they might have fallen for girls jsut because of their looks, too.

"I take pity on you guys," I said.

"Hey, we're guys with hormones," Shane said in his defence.

"Please don't say the word hormones," I said, rubbing my temples and remembering the talk I had with Annie. "And by the looks of things, I might be able to finish my... thing."

Nate got off the bed. "What thing?"

"Eh, a little experiment that I'm gonna use to scare off that Robbie guy."

"Oohh, a prank," Shane said, rubbing his hands. "Want some help?"

I smiled, nodding. "OK, wait here. I need to make a trip to the kitchen first," I said, grabbing my bag.

The guys looked at eachother in confusement as I wheeled myself out of the room, luckily unseen by Robbie or Annie. They were in the living room.

"Ok, where's that stuff I stashed in the back of the fridge last week?" I said to myself, opening the fridge. I found some jars labeled. 'Sam's' I smirked and got them into my bag. Nice and rotten, just the way I like my amo.

"Robbie, please stop," I heard Annie say. I arched my eyebrow and tried to listen in, quietly closing the fridge.

"Come on baby, we've been going out for a month. Don't you think it's time?" I heard Robbie say seducively. Now was I right or was I right?

"Oh well you know h-how a girl likes to take things slow," Annie chuckled nervously.  
"Well you're grown up now, Ann. You're still a virgin. And you're 19. Nice to do it while you're still young."

If I could I would have attacked him right then and there, if I could walk. I wheeled myself into my bedroom without being seen. But what I saw, was Annie laying on the couch in a disadvantage. I wheeled faster and shut the door in my room.

"What happened to you?" Nate asked.

I turned my face, starring at the three boys. "Guys, we've got a mission on our hands. Ready for the ultimate prank?"

"Boy am I gonna enjoy this," Shane laughed. "What's the plan, Sam?"

I pointed at my closet. "Go there, left wall. Get what you think you'll need."

Jasson starred at me strangely. "We need girls clothing?"

I gave him a look. "Just do it."

Shane and Jasson walked to my closet and Nate wheeled me to my bed. The next thing I heard was-

"WOAH!" Shane and Jasson ran out holding two of my paint ball guns.

Nate starred and I just smirked. "Like em'?"

"Since when did you get the money to buy these things?" Jasson asked as he looked at his gun. "These are like, state-of-the-art."

"I needed a hobby. I make them," I said, getting two more for me and Nate.

"You mean you make paint ball uns for a living?" Nate asked in disbelief.

"Well, I needed some way to kcik Annie's boyfriends out of the house," I said as an excuse as I took the stuff out of my bag. I heard disgusted sounds coming from the guys behind me.

"God Sam, what is that?" Nate asked covering his nose.

I loaded my gun. "It's our amo."

I felt Shane smirk under his hand covering his mouth. "I'm seriosuly gonna like this prank."


	3. Sleep Over

"3...2...1!!"

Jasson and Shane ran out screaming, fireing away at Robbie who was on top of Annie, who was wearing her under shirt. Nate was standing on the back of my wheelchair like a little kid on a shopping cart. I wheeled myself out down a ramp and we strated fireing away too. This time, I had my own Connect 3 Army.

Robbie ran out of the house screaming like a little girl, a good laugh. Jasson went to go help Annie who was shaken up a little bit. Shane, Nate, and I high fived eachother. We knew we'd have to clean up the floor later with the mess we made.

"Sam I can't thank you enough," Annie said with Jasson's jacket over her shoulders.

"Told ya," I said with a victorious smirk. "That'll teach him not to lock immoble girls in garages."

"Yeah I think you made that mesagae clear," Nate laughed, still holding his paint ball gun.

"You alright?" Jasson asked, rubbing her back.

"I've never been so scared in my life," Annie said, making sure Jasson's jacket was stil over her shoulders.

"Well, thats good. But I meant if you're feeling OK. You have a fever," Jasson said, feeling her forehead.

Shane, Nate, and I looked at eachother. It was about time they went back to _their_ best friend relationship.

"Hm, I guess I do," Annie siad, taking her temperature with her thermometer. "Great."

"Don't worry sis. You'll be safe in my hands," I said, looking at my gun with a grin.

"I don't need security. I need rest," Annie said, giving me a hug. "Which means I can't watch you as often as I usualy do. Therefore Nate."

I felt him tense up at the sound of his name coming into this conversation. "Y-Yeah?"

"You'll be here for about three weeks. You think you can take Sam around or spend some time with her?"

"Say what?" I interupted.

"Come on Sam. You should go see the outside world. I'd take you but I wanna get some rest first. And who better to protect you than Connect 3?"

"And who's gonna protect us from the screaming fans if they chase us?" Shane added.

Annie yawned, walking to her room. "Eh too bad. I'm older. Good night."

We all watched as she went to her room and shut the door.

"Well that was just weird," Shane said.

I nodded.

"So Sam," Nate started. "We're gonna go to the mall tomorrow. Wanna come?"

I blinked. "You sure that's alright? I don't want to bother you guys just because Annie said-"

"No, we're taking you because we wanna take you," Shane said, walking to the door with Jasson. "We'll pick you up around nine alright?"

"Wait we're leaving already?" Nate asked.

"Don't you think that Sam and Annie will want some rest or something-"

"No its OK Jasson," I inetupted. "Nate can sleep over for the night if he wants."

"Excellent idea-Wait what?" Nate looked at me surprised.

Shane and Jasson grinned and ran out the door. Nate and I shurgged and we went to my room.

"I guess I'm staying over," he said.

"Wait, we don't have any sleeping bag."

His head jumped. "Oh, it's OK, I'll just sleep over there in the corner. I can fall asleep anywhere."

I laughed. "I know. But you shouldn't sleep there. You can take my bed. I'll jsut sleep in my wheelchair."

"No way. I'm a guest."

"Well I'm a host."

"I can sleep wherever I want."

"And I'm saying you take the bed and I'll stay here in my chair."

"You're a girl."

"What does that have to do with things?"

"I'm a guy. And it is my duty to be a gentleman and let you have the bed."

"Well why don't we just watch a movie and stay in my bed. Whoever falls asleep first sleeps there."

"That's a stupid contest."

"I know."

"Let's do it."

And with that we ended out pointless back-and-forth arguement and went to a rough hand shake with seirous stares. Within a minute we started laughing. I remembered when this happened last time. It was teh first time Nick slept over at my house and we had the same contest. Watch a movie and whoever sleeps first sleeps in the bed. In the end we stayed up until 3:00 and fell asleep together. Shane and Jasson took a picture for blasckmail, but I got it back. I still have it in a frame on my side table.

We ended up watching Aquamarine as I jumped into bed, nealry scaring Nate. Then he layed beside me and we watched the movie.

**--NATE'S POV--  
**We were nearing the end of the movie and I yawned. I looked and found Sam already asleep. I smiled and slowly got over her bed, placing the covers over her. I walked to the corner of the room and sat down with my arms crossed, falling asleep instantly. I smiled as I saw Sam turn in her sleep as my last sight.

**--SAM'S POV--**  
I yawned and opened my eyes. I felt the bed under me so I guess I lost the contest. Except I didn't feel Nate next to me. Did he really go sleep somewhere else?

"Nate?" I called out with my eyes half asleep. I felt around and I ended up falling off the bed. "Ow," I moaned, rubbing my head.

I sat up and looked at the clock. 5:00 in the morning. I rubbed my eyes and saw Nate sitting in the corner, asleep. I smiled. He seriously went there. I sighed and grabbed my covers from the bed and tried to crawl over there. Not the best way to move. I felt like that mermaid from the movie, not being able to walk. Eventually, I made it to Nate's side and sat next to him, still feeling a little bit sleepy. I rested the covers on our laps and sleep took over my eyes again. I felt my head resting on Nate's shoulder, but I was to lazy to care. Oh well.

**--NATE'S POV--**

I woke up to sunlight in my face. I opened my eyes yawned.

"Sam?" I yawned out, seeing her next to me. Her head was on my shoulder and she had her bed coevers over our laps so keep us warm. How did she even get here anyway?

_'Knowing Sam, she probabaly woke up in the middle of the night and crawled over here.' _

I sighed and tried to wake her up. "Hey, Sam, rise and shine."

I felt her eyes start to ope. I blushed at how innocent she looked. "N-Nate?" When she noticed the position we were in, she screamed and fell sideways.

I laughed. "You alright there?"

She sat back up and rubbed her head. "That's the second time I fell."

"Fell off the bed?" I asked her. "You never outrew that habbit, did you?"

She glared. "I did when you guys left. Now that you're back, I'm gonna start getting clumsy again."

"That good or bad?"

She punched my arm.

"Ow!" I shouted, rubbing the shot she hit. "What's that for?"

She smiled and rolled her eyes, taking the covers off her lap and she began trying to drag herslef back to her bed. I laughed as she attempted to move faster. I can't imagine trying to get around like that on the gorund. I finnaly took pity on her and stood up, picking her up bridal style.

She blushed. "Uh... what are you doing?"

"You're gonna make me burst into laughter if you try crawling again."

"Mean person."

I layed her back in her bed and we saw the door open. It was Jasson and Shane.

"Hey young people," Jasson greeted.

"How'd the sleep over go?" Shane asked with rising eyebrows.

Sam and I looked at eachother. "Ok."

My brothers gave eachother a look. That meant they knew we were lying.

"Anyway, you two ready to go to the mall?" Shane asked.

"What about Annie?" Sam asked, jumping off the bed and landing in her cwheelchair.

"Uh," Jasson stammered, still surprised. "I told Annie I'd keep her company. You three can go."

Shane grinned and said in a sing-songy voice, "Jassone's got a girlfriend."

"Shut up," Jasson said glaring.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go change first," Sam said. "You guys can go wait in the living room."

"You sure you don't need some help with that?" I mentally slapped myself fro saying that. It sounded wrong in _oh_ so many ways, making me blush. "I mean, not that I-I want to help you get dressed. I mean, uh, n-not that I'm saying you shouldn't be helped or, oh God what am I talking about?"

Sam giggled. "I can manage Nate, but, uh, thanks for the offer... I think?"

I blushed and laughed nervously until Shane and Jasson pulled me out of the room.

"Man did you embarass yourself," Shane said, throwing me onto the couch.

"I know. I never stutter like that," I said. "She probabaly thinks I'm some perve or somehting now."

"Nah, she doesn't," Jasson assured. "Let's talk about something else. How did the night go yesterday?"

I groaned. "Please don't remind me."

"Ooh, somehting good," Shane said excitignly.

"Nothing happened. We just had that contest to see who doesn't get the bed."

Jasson laughed. "Again?"

"Kinda inronic how you're doing a contest on who _doesn't_ get the bed when usualy you'd want the bed," Shane added.

"We were trying to be polite. And in the end no one used the bed. I woke up and we were both asleep in the corner of the room."

"Wow, we should have been here earlier for pictures," Shane said.

"She said she fell out of bed and I called her clumsy. Then she hit me for no reason."

They looked at eachother and grinned.

"Aw, Nate's first punch by his best girl friend," Jasson said smiling.

"I never would have thought I'd see the day," Shane said, smiling too.

I starred at them like they had two heads. "What are you talking about?"

Jasson, being the oldest, explained. "Now, you know how some best friends are just a boy and a girl?"

"Like me and Sam."

"Exactly," Jasson said. "Now, when the girl hits the guy for no apparent reason, it's because they're entering stage 1."

I made another face at him. "Stage 1 of what?"

"It's like puberty," Jasson continued. "But different. But speaking in my world, I call this stage in a boy's life: Bhicoltif."

I looked Shane for help on what Jasson was talking about. "Believe me, he actually made sense when he explained this to me."

Jasson sighed. "Bhicoltif is a special thing only for sertian boys. Like you for instance. You and Sam have been friends for a long time, right? Bhicoltif stand for Boy Has Infinite Crush On Long Time Intermediete Friend."

"O...k?" I wasn't sure what Jasson was talking about at the moment. He made it seem like this was a big deal.

"In this, there are three stages. Number one, she is beginning to get awkward with you."

I made a face. "How do you know that?"

"Cause she hit you for no apparent reason," Jasson answered simply. "Girls do that whenever they can't find an answer to _anything_. That explains her in math class. When she can't think of the answer, she taps her finger on the desk. But in real life, she taps her first into your arm."

"Jasson, Sam doens't go to school," Shane pointed out.

"And she's good at math," I added.

"You get my point," Jasson said iwth crossed arms. "As for Stage two, it's when the girl, Sam, begins to question herself about her feelings towards the guy, meaning you. Is it the feeling of true love, or just another relationship born to fall apart."

I blinked. "That's comforting to know about my best friend."

"And last, Stage three. In that stage, it's not one of the best. You two start to avoid eachother to the point you'd wish you'd never met."

"And is that it? My friendship with Sam would jsut end right there?"

"No," Jasson answered. "You'll just need to work it on from there end. Like a bird and egg. After going through all the preparations of protecting the egg, it's hatched. Now, it's gotta learn to fly, on its own, by its self. Jsut go with the flow."

"Jasson you've got me more confused than ever," I said. "How do you know all this again?"

"I just do," Jasson answered simply.

I looked down. As weird and strange as this Bhicoltif explanation sounded, it... actually made sence, even a little.

"I'm ready," said a voice.

We all turned around and saw Sam wheel herself in. My eyes widened. She looked... well... better than ever. She was all dressed up. Not like fancy, but. I don't know. She looked like a normal 15 year old girl.

"You sure dressed up," Shane complimented with that charm.

She smiled. "Well, it's gonna be my first time out in ten years. I thought I should, you know, make a good frist impression."

"Well, you guys start walking. I'm not gonna drive and I don't trust Shane with the car," Jasson said, standing up.

"Hey!" Shane yelled, making me and Sam laugh.

--**SAM'S POV--**

Jasson went with Annie in her bedroom and Shane and Nate took me outside. Automatically, a smile appeared on my face. I've looked out the windows and all that before, but this time I was actually gonna _go_ somewhere. And with friends. I noticed it was Nate who was moving my wheelchair.

"You don't have to do that, you know. I can move myself."

He shurgged. "Doesn't matter. Just realx, enjoy the scenry."

"Oh believe me, I'm enjoying it," I said with a laugh.

"Bhicoltif," Shane said, grinning at Nate, who just glared back.

I looked up at the two. "Bihicoltif?"

"Don't ask," Nate groaned, slapping his forehead.

I blinked in confusement, but I decided not to ask.

We walked to the mall, which probably took about ten minutes. I starred at awe of all the kinds of people, the kinds of stores, the kids of restaurants, a lot of things.

Mainly, I just watched Shane and Nate shop. Usualy from what I knew, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. But, me being in a wheelcahir, I don't really have time to get nice clothes. It bothers me when Annie tried to help dress me up. And it's enough toruble dressing up myself. Sorta why I took so long this morning.

"So how do you like the mall?" Nate asked as we sat at the food court with our sodas.

"It's nice. But, it's so busy. And... sometimes kinda loud."

"Just be lucky there aren't people recognizing me," Nate laughed. He and Shane were just wearing sun glasses. I would have thought they'd be weaing more of a disguise, but I'm not complaining.

"So where's Shane?"

Nate shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. I think he's still walking around somewhere."

I played with my straw in my drink. "Is there anywhere else in town that's, you know, not all city like all the time?"

I saw him look at me. "Like what?"

I shrugged. "Maybe somehting simple, like a park or beach. I forgot all our old little hangouts when we were kids." I didn't notice myself smile. "I remember those monkey bars we used to play with in at the park. Sometimes I wonder if it's still standing there."

"Well then, why don't we go see for ourselves, just the two of us?"

"What about Shane?"

"Eh, I'll just call him later. He won't mind if we go off for a little while."

I sighed. "Alrighty then, take me away."

He smiled and we got out of the mall in one piece. Along the way, Nate bumped into something since we were talking and not paying attention to our surroundings. His shades fell off and a bunch of girls started screaming NATE GREY!! We had to high tail it out of there like there was no tomorrow. But as Nate ran while pushing my wheelchair, I was laughing. I was actually enjoying myself.


	4. The Monkey Bars

"Well, we're here," Nate said as my wheelchair came to a stop. We were at the playground in the park.

"It's just as I remember it," I said, seeing the slide, the swings, the tater-tor, the merry-go-round, and the monkey bars. My eyes saddened. "Too bad I can't walk."

"Like that's stopped you before?" Nate asked. "Remmeber when you scaped your knee here and you were to scared too walk?"

I made a face. "Don't remind me. Gosh, I acted like a total baby."

"Hey, at least I cheered you up."

"Oh really? Then remind me beacuse I fotgot."

"Well, I picked you up and helped you to the merry-go-round. We kept spinning around until we got dizzy."

I started laughing again. "Oh yeah."

"I would have carried you to the monkey bars, but we were still small."

I noticed his eyes change, as if there were mischif in them. "Nate? What are you thinking?"

He smirked.

"Oh no, don't you dare-WOAH!"

He picked me up so my legs were over his neck and I was holding onto his head. "Comfy?"

"Yeah. Have I ever told you I was afraid of hights?!" I yelled, panicking but also enjoying this.

"What? You love going on those high monkey bars."

"Well I could _walk_ then. Being chair-bound for ten years tend to take away some bravery in a girl."

"Whtever you say." He began walking and I held onto his head, making sure I wasn't blocking his sight. I blushed too. I never would have expected this. But, I felt so good, being up this high.

We were at the monkey bars and I looekd down. You had to be like 13 or older to go on these because of how high they were, but Nate and I went on them anyway when we were little. It was a big drop for us, but we didn't mind. Well now, I probaably did.

"Can you reach them?" Nate asked.

I grabbed the first one. But only because Nate was giving me the high boost. "Yeah." I remembered, going all the way across all the time and succeding. "Nate, let me go."

"What?"

"I said let me go. I'm gonna try and do this again."

"Are you crazy, Sam? You can't walk."

"So?"

"And what happened to the whole scared of hights thing?"

"Went away with the wind," I said with a grin. "Please? Just trust me."

He sighed. "Alright." Nate carefully removed my legs form around the back of his neck as I felt my hands tighten. Then I was left dangling and I almost thought I was gonna drop. But actually, I didn't. I opened my tightly shut eyes and saw myself above the gorund, way high.

"Sam, you've got gum under your shoe," Nate chuckled, looking up under my feet.

I laughed. "I can't believe it. I guess working out really does help." I began doing pull ups as if they were nothing.

"Ok, ok, stop being a show off and let's see if you can actually go all the way."

I looked down and tried kicking his shoulder for that comment. He ducked and I started moving my arms so I could move forward. Left, right, left, right. I got to the last monkey bar and I turned around, seeing Nate clapping benieth me.

"Wow, didn't know you had it in you," Nate said.

"That an insult or compliment?"

"What do you want it to be?"

I laughed. "I'd hit you right now if I could."

"Ah, but now you have to go back the way you came."

I sighed. I had to admit, my arms were getting tired. I started going back the way I came and I was half way, until my arm suddenly gave out. I was holding on with my right arm now. "Ah!"

"You ok, Sam?!"

"Uh... I'm good!" I replied, until I felt my fingers slipping. "Not good, not good!!"

"I'll catch you!"

I ws on my last two fingers. "Nate I'm too high for you to-"

I didn't get to finish because my fingers failed me. I started falling and then I fell on top of Nate. We landed on the ground, me on top.

"Oh my god are you ok Nate?" I asked, worried.

He groaned. "I'm alright."

I grinned nervously. "I'm sorry."

"Eh, don't be. Are _you_ ok?"

"Well, I've been in better situations," I said, noticing the position we were in. Anyone could easily mistake us for being a couple. I instantly blushed and used my arms to roll off him. I landed on my back on the hard ground. "Ow... ok now we're even."

He laughed and got up, picking me up, too. Only this time, piggy back style. I liked this way better.

--

"You sure Shane knows we're here?" I asked again as Nate pushed me on the swing.

"He'll figure out where I went."

"Why?"

"Uh..." Nate blushed again. "It's a guy thing."

I blinked. "I think I'm starting to get what Annie was talking to me about."

"What talk?"

"About how confusing guys can be."

he laughed. "Hey."

"What? You're an exception. You're my best guy friend."

"Does that mean you have a best girl friend?"

I pondered. "Actually, not really. Ugh, ever since that talk with Annie, I think I'm gonna start adding the word 'guy' when I say best friend."

"Is that much of a problem?"

"I don't know. Stop asking me quiestions like that!"

I heard him laugh as he continued pushing me. It was pretty private here. "So, have you been up to anything lately with being a famous rock star?"

"Not too much. Sometimes I wished I could come back here and, you know, do normal teenager stuff."

"Well, don't come to me. I'm still trying to figure that out."

"We... could always go camping with everyone. The guys and I got discovered by going to camp."

"Hm, I've always wanted to go camping," I said, thinking about the idea. "Alright, let's do it."

Nate made a face. "What? We're just gonna go camping? Just like that?"

I laughed. "Well not now. That'd be crazy. Once Annie gets better we'll bring her along so Jasson won't have to make up some excuse about watching over her."

"Still think Jasson likes Annie?" Nate asked.

"And always will," I finsihed.

"Um, maybe we should get back to your place. I think Shane might be back already."

I sighed. "I hate how you act like my father."

"What? I just said we should go home."

"My point."

He laughed and got me on his back again. After placing me in my wheelcahir, we headed back to my place.

--

"We so weren't."

"Denial, little bro."

"Would you quit it, guys?"

"Bhicoltif..." Shane said in a sing songy voice.

"Stop saying that stupid word!"

"So you admit you have it!"

"I don't have anything!"

"Nothing but a crush!"

"I'm not crushing on her!"

"So are!"

I blinked in confusement, watching Nate argue with Shane and Jasson from the kitchen. "What are they talking about?"

Annie sighed, drinking some coffee. "You can be so oblivious, Sam."

I looked my ill sister. "What are you talking about?"

She sighed. "I think it's time we had the talk."

"Again?" I asked with a face.

"No this is different."

We both sat down in the kitchen table as the guys still argued otut in the living room.

"So, what's _this_ talk about?" I asked.

"What I believe you have is Ghicoltif."

"I... have some sick desiese?"

"Personally, I wouldn't call it a desiese. It stands for Girl Has Intense Crush On Long Time Intermediete Friend."

"And you made up this anchronym... how?"

"I didn't not make this up. Every teenager knows it. Well, at least I do."

I looked at her strange. Maybe she was sicker than I thought. But, I decided to let her ramble on.

"Now, there are three stages in this teenage thing. First stage, obliviousness."

"Obliviousness?"

She nodded, as if this were some subject in school. "Yup. Guys argue over something but the girl who has the Ghicoltif remaines hopelessly oblivious to the subject."

"Ok, you got me then you lost me."

Annie rolled her eyes. "Stage Two, the guy's gonna try and be as comfortable with you as possible."

"And how?"

"I don't know. Like by spending quality time together or having unexpected moment, just the two of you."

"Um... isn't that called, oh I don't know, life?"

"Not here," she replied. "It's the second stage in Ghicoltif. And near the end of that stage, you're in for it."

"What exactly am I in for?"

"Stage three, not pretty. You two get into some arguement or whatever and just stop communicating. Just ignore, ignore, ignore."

I blinked again. "... So there's no hope for me, doc?"

She laughed, making me smile along with her. "Nah, just go with the flow. Nothing anyone can do to help. Like that time at the beach when you lost your shoe in the waves. After waiting a couple hours, the waves brought it back to shore. All you can do is hope and pray... because boys are idiots. They'll be waiting for the girl to make the first move until they realize it ain't going nowhere and they have to fix the mess themselves."

"Um... again, back to my theory called life."

"Come on, Sam. You know there's a difference between life and Ghocoltif. And based on what I'm observing," Annie paused, seeing that Nate, Shane, and Jasson still arguing. "You're still in Stage 1."

I rolled my eyes. "How much weirder can this get? Anyway, I'l be in the garage. Tell the others I want some time alone."

"Alright."

I wheeled myself back into the garage and shut the door.

**--ANNIE'S POV--**

I smiled as Sam went to the garage. She liked to go there to think. As she closed the door, I put down my cup of coffee and went to the living room.

"Hey, you guys done yet?" I called out, getting their attention.

They saw me and paused, though Shane and Nate went back to their fight.

"I see you've finnaly woken up," Jasson said.

I laughed. "I know. I probabaly fell asleep for hours. I hate being sick. ."

"Why?"

I looked at him. "You know if you don't get sick often, it'll be even worse when you finnaly _do_ get sick. And the last time I was sick was when I got the chicken pox... And that was when I was 15."

"... Ok didn't know that."

I smiled. "Well you do now." I paused, looking at Nate and Shane still arguing. "You know, Sam told me you stayed behind to watch me."

Jasson blushed. "Uh, well, we couldn't leave you alone in the house sick, so I figured I'd stay behind."

"Yeah right!" Shane and Nate yelled, taking a pause in their arguement before resuming, again.

I laughed as Jasson blushed more. "Well Kasson, I guess even though you're a big rock star now, you're still the same preteen that liked to watch over me."

I started walking away until Nate stopped me. "Wait, where's Sam?"

I didn't turn around, but I smiled, knwoing he still cared for my little sister. "She's in the garage. Give her some time alone, though. She usualy goes in there to think and be alone."

"Um, alright," Nate answered, a little disappointed. He turned towards his brothers. "I'll be waiting in the car."

Once Nate left the door, I starred at Shane and Jasson. "I suppose you already gave Nate the talk?"

Jasson nodded. "Yup. And you?"  
"Just did now with Sam... She didn't take it well. She keeps wondering the difference between Ghicoltif and normal life."

"Nate just thought Jasson made it up," Shane said, remembering how Nate reacted. "You know, Sam's not the only one with Ghicoltif."

As Jasson blushed, I made a confused face. "Really? Who?"

"Ah, Shane's just tired from today's events," Jasson said before Shanecould answer. Shane mouth was covered and Jasson dragged him out the door. Before Jasson could close it, Shane shouted. "STAGE 1! OBLIVIOUSNESS!"

"Shut it!" Jasson said lastly.

Finnaly, the door closed and I just stood there. "... Weird."


	5. Swimming

--**SAM'S POV--**

I was in the kitchen, eating breakfast, or at least trying to.

"Argh, I hate doing things like this," I groaned, trying to use a broom stick to reach the top cabinet. Why Annie kept the cereal up there, I'll never know.

"Morning," I heard Nate greet from the kitchen entrance. I remembered he and his brothers got keys to this place yesterday. I could tell he was surprised to see what I was doing. I finally turned my head and looked at him.

"Hehe, funny story about this."

"Uh, right," he said walking in slowly. "Um, reaching for something?"

"Yeah, can't get to the cereal cabinet," I explained. Suddenly, I felt a weird feeling go through me. I suddenly felt myself jump up from my wheelchair. I wasn't even doing it. Apparently, the jump was a little more than I could handle and I got so high I was close enough to each the cabinet. By quick reaction, I was able to open it and was about to grab the cereal box, but I started falling, knocking down the rest of the cereal boxes too.

"Ow," I said from the floor.

Nate immediately went to help me up into my wheelchair. "Hey, you alright there?"

"Dunno," I said, throwing the broom stick to the side. "That was weird."

"You got that right," Nate agreed, having the same expression as me. We eventually shrugged it off and Nate helped me make my breakfast. And he cleaned up the mess I made with the knocking down of all the cereal boxes. Right now, we were both eating quietly. But remembering my very weird and clumsy act, I started laughing.

Nate noticed this. "What's so funny?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing," I answered. "I'm so sorry for making you clean up all that."

"Don't worry about it. But, you've gotta admit, it was strange how you suddenly jumped like that."

"Hey, I wasn't jumping. That weird broom pulled me up and out of my wheelchair."

"Uh-huh, yeah, right. Blame the broom stick."

I gave him a look. "Seriously. I'm not one to make things up!"

"Says the girl with a bunch of guns in her closet."

"Whatever." I swallowed another spoonful of cereal. "So, what are you doing here anyway?"

I saw him tense up. He didn't respond for a second. "I-I just came here to check up on you because... I got bored at the hotel."

"Really?" I asked, not believing him.

"Um, forget I asked."

"I was the one who asked."

"You're not helping."

"HEY SAM YOU'RE ON THE COVER OF A MAGAZINE!" Annie yelled from her bedroom. She was still sick.

I spit out my cereal as Nate sank in his seat. "Great going, Annie." He muttered udner his breath.

She came out of her room with her robe on over her pajamas like last night. She threw the magazine onto the table and left back into her room.

I looked over the title to see a picture of me and Nate making our get away at the mall. "Nate Grey and Mystery Girl. What the heck?"

"_This _is why I came over,"Nate said, eyeing the magazine with embarrassment. "I wanted to know if you saw this or not."

"Well I'm seeing it now!" I yelled with panic all over my face. I went to the page of the article and started going over it.

"Apparently some people thought we were going out," Nate explained awkwardly to me. "Don't know why though. I mean, we were just hanging out in the mall. Doesn't mean anything."

I turned the page. "You see this yet?" I held it up to his face. It was a picture of me on top of Nate from when I fell off the monkey bars. Someone must have seen us playing around there. Besides that, Nate's eyes widened. "I'm gonna take a wild guess you didn't see this part of the article?"

He shook his head and groaned. "I hate thios. They see one picture, they make a whole story about it."

"So I suppose this is one of the downsides to being famous," I said, putting the magazine down. He seemed more freaked out than me.

"You have no idea," Nate said, regaining his posture. "You're not mad or anything are you? Because when Shane showed this to me I started freaking out and I thought if you saw it then, um, I don't really know what I thought after that."

I laughed. "Forget it, Nate. It meant nothing, anyway. Besides, we're best friends." I didn't happen to notice the hurt in Nate's eyes when I said that.

"Uh, yeah, best friends," Nate repeated. "You wanna try hanging out again outside?"

"You sure you won't mind if we end up in some article again?"

"Not unless you are."

I smiled and we began going outside.

"So, where are you taking me?" I asked since we never really discussed where we were going. And he was the one pushing my wheelchair.

"We're gonna go over to the hotel me and the guys are staying at," Nate said. "I think it's time that you go visit our place for a change."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, blame the girl in the wheelchair. You don't think I'd want to visit you guys?"

"And who's fault is that?"

I hit him on his hand, since that was the farthest I could go while sitting down. We arrived at the hotel in a few minutes. Weird how just about everything was within walking distance of my house. Hm, maybe I can actually head out by myself some time.

--

Nate wheeled me inside and into an elevator. We arrived in front of two corridors labeled CONNECT 3. He pushed them open and I let myself in. My mouth probabaly dropped by now. "Wow..."

"Nice room huh?"

I nodded, turning my head in all directions. This one room looked just awesome. Then I noticed it had a kitchen, where Shane and Jasson currently were.

"Hey! We got a visitor!" Jasson said.

"Morning," I greeted with my usual smile.

"What are you doing here?" Shane asked, obviously surprised.

"Nate said he wanted to bring me here," I said, looking back at him as he walked towards us.

"So you're not like pissed off with the magazine thing?" Shane asked.

"No... should I be upset about it?"

Jasson and Shane looked at eachother then back at me. "We didn't say anything."

I laughed. These three were always funny. Even before they became this huge band.

"So, anything you wanna do today, Sam?" Shane asked.

"Anything you guys wanna do," I replied.

"We could always go to the beach," Jasson suggested.

"Are you crazy? We'll get mobbed out there," Nate said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world... Actually, it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's ok guys, you can go to the beach if you want," I said.

"No, it wouldn't be good if any reporters saw you and Nate again," Shane told me, reminding me of this morning's events.

"Oh yeah."

"Hey guys!"

I looked to another door and saw a little boy come out. That must have been Aiden, their little brother.

"About time you got up," Nate joked.

"Who's she?" he asked, pointing at me.

"That's Samantha Ashton," Jasson announced as if this were a formal thing.

I rolled my eyes until I felt Aiden hug me out of pure excitement. I laughed. "Nice to meet you Aiden."

"Nick was right! You are pretty!"

I blinked. "What?"

Before Aiden could talk, Nate covered his mouth. "Ha, little kids. What can you do with them?"

I heard Shane and Jasson laughing from the kitchen and that just got me more confused. "Um, alright?"

"Wanna just hang out here for a bit?" Nate asked from all the randomness that just happened.

"Sure, anything."

For the next few hours, we ended up playing video games, which I happened to have a talent for. I better tell Annie what I want for Christmas soon if I wanna keep playing these things.

"I can't believe I just lost," Nate sighed out.

I smiled in an apologetic way. "Sorry."

"Eh, not that much of a problem. But Shane and Jasson will never let me live this down."

"Hey Nate, Sam," Aiden called, wearing a shirt and swimming trunks. "We're going to the pool since its empty. Wanna come?"

I saw Nate look at me then back at Aiden. "Um, it's OK. I'll just stay with Sam-"

"No we can go, Nate. Just because I can't walk doesn't mean I can't go to the pool with you guys," I said. "I can just sit at the side of the pool or something, no biggie."

--**NATE'S POV--**

I was in the pool already with my brothers. Jasson said he wanted to go 'keep Annie company' again. We're probably gonna hear a lot more of that in the future.

"You're awfuly quiet," Shane said, swimming up to me. "I bet you're thinking about Sam."

"No I'm not."

"Yeah he is," Aiden said, joining in the conversation. "When I asked if he and Sam wanted to go swimming, he almost said he didn't want to go and he wanted to stay with Sam. Then Sam interrupted and said they'll both go."

"Aw, Jasson's not the only guy who wants to keep his girl company, huh," Shane laughed.

I splashed water in their face. "Shut up."

Shane quickly recovered from the water in his face. "You've gotta stop worrying about Sam just because she's in a wheelchair. She's not scared of a little water."

"I'm not worried about that. I mean, I've never really seen Sam in a swim suit before and I'm afraid if I do I might freak or something. Last time we went swimming we were just wearing our own clothes."

Shane laughed. "Yeah right. Sam probably still looks like the same 7-year old I remember. Like the time I asked her if she wanted to wear Annie's swim suit and she just refused automatically. I'm sure she's not that much of a woman anyway-"

All of us stopped our conversation when we saw the gate open. Sam was there in her wheelchair with a bikini.

I blinked. Shane sure was wrong. She had nice long legs, a nice figure, not to skinny. And her, um, chest was actually noticeable. With the kinds of clothing she usually wears, I never really noticed. I felt a blush creep into my face. This was exactly what I was afraid about.

"Woah," Shane and I said together.

"Hi Sam!" Aiden greeted, being the young boy he was and not being too shocked about her appearance.

She smiled sweetly like she always does. "Hi guys."

I could tell she was trying to hide her shyness by hugging her arms and trying to cover herself with her towel.

--**SAM'S POV--**

I saw Nate get out from the pool. And I blushed. I've never seen him shirtless before- WAIT! I'm not gonna give into Annie's words! But she's right, I'm 15 and I've got hormones, which are unfortunately kicking in... Life stinks.

I felt myself being lifted from my wheelchair and onto nate's back again, making me blush since he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Now what are you doing?"

"Well, it won't be fun if you're just gonna sit at the edge of the pool."

"So what? You're gonna drown me?"

"... Hopefully not."

I whacked him on the head as he walked into the water. I locked my arms tighter around him since I was nervous he'd drop me or something.

"I see someone finally was able to get into the water," Shane said as he and Aiden swam up to us.

"What happened to Jasson?" I asked, looking around the empty pool.

"He went to go be with your sister," Aiden answered.

I nodded. "Doesn't surprise me there."

"Hey! Nate!"

We all looked and saw a girl in a bikini too. Her hair was neatly tied behind her back as she held her towel in her hand.

Shane groaned. "Oh man."

I blinked. "What? What's wrong?"

"_That's _Christi," Shane said in a disgusted matter. "She came on tour with us last year."

"Oh yeah, I remember her," I said surprised. "Did you and Christi go out that time, Nate?"

He looked at me. "Yeah, but I broke up with her at the end of the tour because-"

"She's a crazed, sick, obsessed person," Shane finished with great agrivation.

Nate gave him a look. "Yeah, thanks for clearing that up."

"And unfortunately for us, she still likes Nate," Aiden whispered to me.

I looked back at the Christi girl. She looked nice. How bad could she be? "Do you like her Nate?"

He blushed. "Not really. I like someone else right now."

I giggled. "You're blushing. That means you like Christi, right?"

Nate's face went into panic. "What?! Didn't you just hear what I said?!"

"Lies, Nathan," I said with my grin, still thinking he was blushing because of Christi.

Shane slapped his forehead. "She's gonna be in Stage 1 for a long while."

"So Nate, what are you doing here?" Christi asked, leaning over the edge of the pool.

"I came here to visit my best friend. This is Sam."

I waved from his back. "Hey."

She gave me a mean look, but I didn't notice. "So this is the Samantha Ashton you kept telling me about."

I looked at Nate in surprise. "You talked about me during your tour?"

The girl smirked. "Uh-huh. He keeps saying how childish you were and how he always had to keep an eye on you because of how much trouble you got into."

Shane, Aiden, and Nate's eyes widened, afraid I'd get mad over that comment. But, on the contrary-

"Aw Nate! That's so sweet!" I said as I hugged him, making him blush.

Shane starred for a moment then shook his head. "Sam really _is_ stuck in Stage 1."

Christi glared. "Hey, how about we play chicken?"

"That a game?" I asked, not knowing.

She nodded, smirking. "Uh-huh. A person gets on top of someone's shoulders and they try to push the other into the pool."

I grinned. "Wow, sounds like fun."

Nate interrupted. "Sam, I don't think we should-"

Christi beat him. "Super! You can go on Shane's shoulders and I'll partner up with Nate!"

Everyone shrugged and went along with Christy's plan. Nate handed me to Shane so I was on top of him and Christi was on top of Nate, much to his displeasure.

"Hey wait a minute," Aiden said, seeing how upset Nate and Shane were. "Sam's at a disadvantage. She can't swim."

Shane caught on. "Alright then Aiden. You join our team so we're even."

Christi pouted. "Well that's-"

"An awesome idea!" Nate finished before Christi could say otherwise.

And with that the game started. Basically, Christi was just aiming for me as I either dodged or blocked her. Aiden kept popping out of the water and poking her sides, attempting to knock her off. Either way we were all laughing, except for Christi who was getting frustrated.

"Come on Sam! You've gotta try and push her off!" Shane said laughing, trying not to fall himself.

I nodded and used my arm to try to get her to fall backwards. I got her and she almost fell. That got her mad to the point her face got red. "Why you-" She started pulling at my hair and I started screaming. My hands went to her wrists as I tried to push her off. Here starts the cat fight. Shane and Nate tried to keep from falling but in the end the cat fight made all of us fall in, even Aiden, who tried to break us up.

I felt myself sinking. I couldn't use my legs because, well you know. And I looked at my arm. It had a long cut from when Christi used her finger nail to try and claw at me. It hurt to much since I wasn't used to getting cut. I couldn't see too much either. I felt my back gently hit the bottom of the pool. I knew I couldn't hold my breath long. When I ran out of air I expected to have my lungs fill with water. My eyes fluttered shut . But... I was still breathing, as if it were nothing.

My eyes shot open, surprised. I was breathing, underwater. I opened my mouth and breathed in a bunch of water, no pain at all. As if I were breathing in oxygen, it seemed normal.

_'What the... what's going on?'_

I still couldn't move my legs, but I could swear I saw myself with a mermaid tail, then legs again. Even though it was only like a second, I knew I saw it. I wasn't blinking because of the shock.

**--NATE'S POV--**

All of us fell down into the water because of the fight Christi and Sam broke into. To me, it seemed more like Christi was the one fighting and Sam was the victim. Once we all rose back to the surface, I made sure all of us were here, and that hopefully someone had Sam because I didn't.

"Guys, where's Sam?" I asked.

"I think she's still down there," Shane told me. "In the deep end."

My eyes widened. "I'll go get her!"

Before Christi could stop me, I already dove under, not before breathing in to hold as much air as possible. I dove in deeper, trying to get to the bottom. I saw Sam lying there, unmoving. I swam to the surface and took another deep breath. I swam down again and saw her eyes a little open. I latched my arm around her waist as I began swimming back. We reached the surface as I breathed heavily.

"Nate! Over here!" Shane called at the edge of the pool, where Christi and Aiden were drying off.

I got back up and layed her down on one of the sun chairs, seeing that her eyes were closed. She wasn't coughing or anything.

"Is she alright?" I asked out of worry.

Shane checked her. "Dunno. Maybe she swallowed too much water or something."

"Aren't you supposed to be doing that CPR lip thing?" Aiden asked.

Automatically, everyone looked at me and Christy's eyes widened.

"Oh no, you don't expect me to give her CPR do you?" I asked in disbelief.

"Too bad, you're gonna," Shane said, being the one in charge.

"Actually he doesn't," we heard Sam whisper.

We all looked down at her and saw one of her eyes open.

"Sam! You're alright!" Aiden cheered, giving her a hug.

Sam laughed. "Like I said, I've been in much more worse situations. It'll take a lot more than water to scare me." She looked at Christi. "I'm sorry I tried to push you off."

Shane gave her an embarassed look. "That was the point of the game, Sam."

She looked at Shane. "Still, it sounds like a mean game."

"You were the one who almost died!"Shane yelled, not getting why Sam wasn't mad.

I smiled as I shook my head. Why Sam never really got mad I'll never know.

"Well, now that that drama's over," Christi started. "How about Sam goes home and we all go over to your hotel room?"

I looked back at Sam. "But-"

"No, it's ok Nate, I already caused enough trouble," Sam said with an assuring smile. "Besides, my house isn't too far from here. I'll go by myself."

Aiden starred at her like she was crazy. "Sam, you just drowned and you're saying you wanna go home alone?"

"See? She's getting mental. Maybe you should just send her to the hospital," Christi suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "You guys go back to the room. I'll walk Sam home after we dry her up."

Shane nodded and quickly responded, "Yeah you go do that!"


	6. I HATE Teenager Hormones

**--SAM'S POV--**

By now I was dried off and back in my old clothes. It was sunset and Nate was walking me home in my wheelchair. And to make things worse, it was quiet the whole way.

"You alright?" nate asked, knowing I had something on my mind. He's cool like that.

I smiled again. "I'm fine, Nate. Just thinking about what happened in the pool."

"Makes me wonder how you aren't mad at Christi."

"Maybe because I'm not?" I said, looking up at him. "You like her. I want you to be happy... as bossy as she sounds."

He laughed. "So you don't like her."

I looked down. "After what she did to my arm, I don't think so."

He looked over and I showed him the cut on my arm. "Ow, we should go bandage that up when we get to your place." He took a pause. "And I don't like her."

"Then who do you like?" I asked, stupid question.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out."

"... Wasn't expecting that kinda answer."

We finally arrived at my place and Nate opened the door for me. We walked in, and I saw Annie and Jassonwatching TV.

"Hey, you're back," Annie said sleepily. "Must have had a lot of fun if you were gone all day."

"And why is Sam's hair wet?" Jason asked, confused.

I smiled nervously. "I, uh, sorta fell into the pool."

Annie's eyes widened. "You what? What happened? Are you ok? You're not hurt?"

Nate laughed. "She's ok. Christi made us all play chicken and Sam got pushed off."

"But I'm alright. Nate saved me."

Jasson and Annie looked at eachother. "Awwww."

Nate blushed. "Stop it you guys."

I looked at everyone. "Why? What is it? I don't get it."

Nate sighed. "Let's just get to your room."

By now, we were sitting in my room. it was 8:00 by now and Nate just finished with the bandages around my arm. "There, feel better?" Nate asked, kneeling at my bedside.

I nodded. "A lot better."

"So, care to explain?"

I looked at him from my bed. "Explain what?"

"I can tell you have something on your mind."

"No I don't."

"Lier."

I stuck my tongue at him and he laughed, sitting at the end of my bed. "There's just something weird about the water, that's all."

"What do you mean by that?"I looked at him. "Nate? Don't you find it weird at all that I wasn't coughing like crazy when I reached the surface? Or how I just 'woke up' as if it were nothing? I didn't drown."

He looked worried. "Where are you getting at this?"

I sighed. "When I was down there... I don't know. it was weird."

"How weird exactly?"

"I don't know. For one I could breathe."

Nate almost laughed. "Sam, that's outrageous. No one can do that."

"Well it just so happens it did with me," I said, getting frustrated because he didn't believe me.

"Maybe you should get some rest. I'll be back for you tomorrow?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me. Good night, Nate."

He nodded. "Night Sam."

--**NATE'S POV--**

I left the room and shut the door. The minute I did, I felt a tug on my arm and I was pulled into the kitchen by Annie. "What? Where's the fire?"

"Sam, she fell in a pool?" Annie asked as if were the most important thing in the world. She was even holding onto my shoulders to make sure I didn't get away. Jasson was standing right behind her, just as confused.

I nodded. "Yeah. But she's fine, don't worry about it."

She slapped her forehead. I gave Jasson a look and he shrugged, apparently not knowing either.

"Listen you guys," Annie said. "Our family's sorta... not normal."

"We know that," Jasosn and I said at the same time.

She glared. "No! not like that!" she took a seat at one of the stools. "I'm already 19, so I know I'm safe."

"Safe from what?" I asked.

"I'll tell you that later. It's not important," Annie said. "But Sam's 15 now. And because of our parents, weird things are supposed to happen when we're 15."

Jasson gave her a strange look. "Why? Did anything happen with you when you were 15?"

"No, so that meant I'm good. Sam on the other hand's only half way through 15."

"Does this have anything to do with the water?" I asked. Maybe Annie's more sick than we thought.

"I don't know. Did Sam say anything?"

I tried to remember. "She said she could breathe under there or something."

Annie's eyes widened as she slammed her head onto the counter. "Great. She just _had_ to have it."

"Have what?" Jasson and I asked at the same time.

"Listen, you guys go back to the hotel. It's getting late. I'll talk tomorrow when I have this sorted out."

--**SAM'S POV--**

I woke up the next morning, laying in my bed. Events of yesterday ran back into my head. Ever since then, I couldn't get that water-breathing thing out of my head.

"You awake?" Annie asked, walking into my room.

"Now I am," I answered, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. When I looked at her, she had worry in her eyes. "Uh, something the matter?"

"About the water yesterday," she said in a serious but quiet tone, "were you seriously breathing under water?"  
Great, Nate probably told her. "Listen, I know what I saw. I breathed under water And I don't care if you don't believe me-"

"No I believe you Sam! It's just," Annie groaned. "I think its time we had the talk."

I rolled my eyes. "Exactly how many 'talks' am I gonna have in one week?"

"No, this one is something I've been meaning to tell you once you turned 16, weather you have it or not."

"What? I have something?"

"Well, not exactly like that."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you."

"Alright, I'll just say it." Annie took in a deep breath. "I think you're a mermaid."

After a few seconds, I bursted out laughing. I fell back in my bed and held my stomach. "Annie, that's crazy!" When I saw her face expression hasn't changed, I knew she wasn' joking. My laughter slowly died down. "Y-You didn't really mean that, did you?"

She sighed. "It's in your genes, Sam. From Mom."

"M-Mom?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Mom was a mermaid. They told me when I turned 16. They said I didn't have the mermaid gene stuff so I was clear."

"How'd they know that?"

"Believe me, Sam. you could have gotten these mermaid symptoms at any time in your life. But once you turn 16, and nothing has happened, you're human completely. But, I'm afraid with you breathing under water, I think you might have it."

I starred at her in complete shock. This was waaay more surprising than that article about me and Nate.

"Usually there are other symptoms, like when you're swimming you can o those high jumps up and out of the water and dive back in. But I'm sure you haven't-"

"I did, during breakfast yesterday."

She slapped her forehead. "I hate this."

"Well at least you're normal!" I retorted.

"Sam, this is important. Usually when you can breathe under water, that's the last symptom before you can actually turn into a mermaid when you're submerged in water.

"Oh yeah, prove it."

--

"Oh this proves it," I said in defeat. Here I was, in my bathroom, in my bath tub, with water filled to the brim, with a mermaid tail... At least I still had my shirt on.

"Wow..." Annie gaped, starring at my tail. "Mom sure wasn't kidding about this stuff."

"Well, how do I change back?"

She pondered for a moment. "... I don't know."

I gave her a look until the doorbell rang. My eyes widened. "Oh man, that's Nate!"

"What do we do?!"

"Uh, uh, you go get the door! I'll stay in here!"

She ran out the door and she shut the door. I looked around. I needed something to hide my bright orange scaly tail. I saw the bubble bath on the sink. I'd use that when I'd want to relax in the tub. I smirked, taking it into my hands.

--

"H-Hi Nate," Annie greeted at the door.

"Um, hi," Nate answered awkwardly. "Is Sam here?"

"She's kinda busy at the moment. Care to take a message?"

He gave her a weird look. "Come on, Annie. Where is she?"

"She's uh, taking a bath right now. Hey, since you came all the way down here, why don't you sit down on the couch and I'll go help her."

With that she pushed Nate onto the couch and rushed back to the bathroom, only to find me in the tub filled to the brim with bubbles.

"S-Sam..."

I grinned and waved. "Hey! Maybe having a tail won't be so bad after all! This is much more relaxing than usual you know."

Annie slapped her forehead. "Sam, Nate's in the living room! Waiting! For you! We've gotta get you back to normal somehow!"

I pouted. "Do I have to? I like it here."

"Sam this is serious!"

"Um, is everything ok in there?" Nate's voice rang from outside the cosed door.

Me and Annie grew silent.

"Sam, now!" Annie whispered as loudly as possible.

"I don't even know how to change back," I retorted.

Annie groaned and messed up her hair. "Nate! Don't worry! Sam's fine! Just being stubborn!"

I pouted again and used my tail to splash her. Apparently, that didn't turn out the way I hoped it would. It made like a giant wave and I got her entirely wet. My mouth formed a 'o' as I covered it, trying not to laugh. "OMG..."

She spit out water and moved her wet hair out from in front of her face. "Did I ever mention super strength as one of the long time sympthoms?"

I grinned sheepishly. "At least I know now."

--**NATE'S POV--**

I heard muffled arguing from Sam's room. I sighed and got up, quietly making my way there. the voices came from her bathroom and I leaned my ear onto it."Hey! Maybe having a tail won't be so bad after all. This is much more relaxing than usual you know."

I made a face. Just what did Sam mean by that?

"Sam, Nate's in the living room! Waiting! For you! We've gotta get you back to normal somehow!"

"Do I have to? I like it here."

"Sam this is serious!"

Back to normal how? I knocked. "Um, is everything OK in there?"

There was a long silence before someone answered. It was Annie. "Nate! Don't worry! Sam's fine! Just being stubborn!"

Suddenly I heard a loud splash that made be wince. I looked down and saw water starting to leak through under the door and under my shoes. "Uh..."

"OMG..." Sam said in a loud gasp.

Annie responded a few seconds later. "Did I ever mention super strength as one of the long time symptoms?"

"At least I know now."

I opened the door and my jaw dropped. The entire floor was covered in water. And when I opened the door, the water seemed to have went into the bedroom. And based on Annie's jeans, the water level must have been up to her ankles and past her feet. I noticed Sam sitting in the bathtub, with her shirt on, and a bunch of bubble bath to go along with it.

"Is there... something wrong?" I was pretty speechless right now.

Sam looked around the room. "I'd say everything's pretty much normal."

Annie glared at Sam and she giggled.

--**SAM'S POV--**

Annie and Nate went to got get some cleaning supplies from the kitchen and I was left alone in the bathroom. I seriously needed to change back, otherwise Nate will find out about my tail.

I sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."

I used my arms and flung myself out of the tub with a loud thud and splash on the bathroom floor.

_'Ow...'_

I used my arms and lifted my head up. I turned around, seeing my orange tail. I glared at it. "This is all you're fault." Suddenly, I felt that weird tingling feeling came back and my tail glowed, turning back into legs. I blinked in confusement. "... Alright?"

"Sam you ok?!"

I looked up and saw Annie and Nate standing at my door with worried looks on their faces. Especially with me on the floor. I noticed Annie's face was the most surprised.

"I, uh, wanted to get out of the water and I tried to, um, flip myself out. I forgot my wheelchair's beside my bed, hehe."

They both gave embarassed looks. Before I knew it, I was back in bed, fresh warm clothes, dry hair, and everything clean. Annie was downstairs on the phone and Nate came in, sitting beside me.

"Sorry about this morning, Nate," I apologized.

"I've been through worse," Nate laughed.

I hit him on the arm. "Hey that's _my_ line."

"And that's _my_ arm, ouch," he said, rubbing it. "Are you working out or something?"

I remembered what Annie said about super strength that supposingly mermaids had. "Um, not exactly that?"

He shook his head.

"So, what are you doing here? Don't you come later than this?

"Well yeah but I got some good news."

I smiled. "Really? What's that?"

"WHAT?!" Annie yelled from downstairs on the phone, which made me and Nate jump.

Nate blinked. "Um..."

I scratched my head. "I guess Annie must be having some conversation on the phone. So, what were you saying, Nate?"

"Oh yeah, I got a girlfriend yesterday!"

I looked at him, shocked. "Y-You do?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You kow Bianca Lavistra. I met her at the hotel last night. Surprise she'd be here taking a vacation."

I nodded, no surprise Nate Grey would get together with another celebrety. "Yeah, big surprise. And you two just got together?"

"Yeah, weird right?"

I grinned my usual grin. "Um, yeah. Definitely weird. That all?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I jsut thought I'd tell you now because if you have plans for us today I'm gonna be spending the day with Bianca."

It took me a few seconds to snap out of my thoughts. "Oh, right, yeah. Don't worry about it. I mean, I'm not going anywhere."

Nate smiled. "Awesome. Anyway, I've gotta go now, Sam. Later."

I nodded as he ran through door. "Yeah, later."

On one side, I was happy Nate was going out again. But on the other, I couldn't help but feel... bad about it? Jeez, I HATE teenager hormones.

I heard my cellphone vibrate from my wheelchair. I picked it up. It was Joe. "Hello?"

"Sam!"

"Hey Shane, what's up?"

"Please don't tell me Nate's there already!"

"Sorry, he just left right now."

"Oh," Shane said disappointingly. "Did he tell you about Bianca already?"

"Yeah, just now. Why? Is there a problem?"

"Um, not really. I just thought you'd be mad about it or something."

"Don't worry. I'm not mad. Why would I be? Nate's enjoying himself away from all the touring and he's got a girlfriend. Can't get any better than that."

I could tell Joe didn't believe me. Even I didn't believe me. "You sure? Because Jasson's on the phone with Annie right now in the lobby, having the exact same conversation we are right now."

I made a face. "So that's what she screamed about."

"What?"

"Nothing!" I answered immediately. "Listen Shane, I've gotta go."

"You sure you don't wanna talk about this?"

"Not on the phone. Feels weird. I'm not used to using this thing anyway. It feels like I'm talking to myself."

Shane laughed on the other line. "Alright then. I'll meet you at your place. We can go to that park where Nate took you. We can talk there."

I sighed. I definitely didn't want to talk to Annie about it. She'd probably make me feel worse. Shane seemed like he was being sincere on the phone, so I knew he wouldn't tease me about my feelings. So why not? Don't got anything else to loose anyway. "Alright."

--

"So, this the place?" Shane asked as we arrived in the park.

I nodded. "Yeah."

He smiled. "I remember this. You and Nate loved going here, right?"

"Yeah,"

He sat down on the bench. "So, talk to me."

"I thought _you _wanted to talk to me."

"I thought it sounded like the right thing to say on the phone."

I laughed.

"How about I start this off with a simple question?" Shane started. "You feel any different with Nate dating?"

"Um, no, I don't know! I know he's dated before and it didn't really bug me so much as it does now."

"Maybe because you might actually have feelings for Nate now?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Argh, I've never felt this way about a guy before... Shane you're a guy right?"

He gave me a look. "Noooo. Of course I am!"

I laughed. "Sorry. What I meant was, um, what's the difference between feeling actual feelings for a guy and just being worried for them?"

"Ah, _the_ question."

I looked at him weird. "_The_ question?"

"Yes, _the_ question. Now, you've never really had a crush, right?"

"No."

"And who's the closest guy you have to you right now?"

"Nate. He's my best friend."

"Yes, but! You're wondering if you like him as a friend or more!"

"Yeah, that's kinda what I'm trying to say to you."

He smiled. "Man feel so old now. Your first _friend or more_ question."

I shook my head. "What's it with you people thinking that dating is like puberty?"

"It just is, Sam."

I looked down at my fingers. "But seriously. I don't know the difference."

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out soon enough."

"So you're saying I should compare my relationship with other people in my life so I can figure out if I like Nate more as a friend?"

Shane nodded. "Yes."

An idea sparked in my head. "Then you're saying I should get a date with someone totally new!"

He nodded again. "Yes-Wait what?"

"Shane I know I don't say this a lot but you're a genius!"

"Sam wait that's not-"

"I've gotta get home so I can tell Annie!" And with no time wasted, I started wheeling myself towards home. I actually knew my way around town now.

Shane slapped his forehead. "I'm so dead now."

--**SHANE'S POV--  
**  
"SHANE YOU'RE A GENIUS!" Annie cheered, hugging me. We were in our hotel room. Nate was out right now.

I blinked. "And how am I a genius?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah, how _is_ he a genius?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Sam goes and gets a date. It's perfect! If Sam's dealing with this so hard about Nate dating, think how hard it'll be when Nate finds out _Sam's_ dating!"

"Doesn't that sound a bit harsh?" Jasson asked, unsure of this plan.

"And hard?" I added. "Where's Sam gonna find a date?"

Annie smirked. "She already did."

Both of us looked at her. "What?"

"I called Jake, one of my old boyfriends. We used to date for a while two years ago and his little brother, Julian, would come over too! Gosh Jake was really awesome and I have no idea why we broke up."

I noticed Jasson change his face expression. "Great guy, huh?"

Annie sighed. "Yeah, he's really sweet. And we kept thinking that Julian and Sam would make a cute couple. But that was two years ago. We've arranged a double date tomorrow at the park for a picnic!"

"What double date?" Nate asked, comming into the hotel room.

Annie squealed. "I got a date tomorrow with my old boyfriend Jake! And to make it even cuter, it's a doubledate! With Sam and his brother Julian! Isn't that just romantic or what?"

Nate starred at the completely excited Annie.

"Anyway guys, I've gotta get home. I think Sam's gonna wear out her labtop if she keeps chatting with Julian. Her first date's gonna be perfect! Bye!"

As Annie left, I noticed Jasson and Nate starring into space, wide eyed.

"Awkward," I finally spoke up.

"I can't believe Annie recovered so fast from the last date she had," Jasson said, still surprised.

"I can't believe Sam's got a date so suddenly," Nate said in the same tone.

I laughed. "Wow, the both of you are jealous."

They glared. "ARE NOT!"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's face it guys. When it comes to Annie and Sam, I'm the expert. Jasson, you like Annie. Nate, you like Sam."

"No we don't," Jasson said.

"And I'm already with Bianca," Nate stated. "So I'm not falling for Sam. She's my best friend."

I smirked. "Yeah, but still. This is Sam's first date. And with a childhood friend to be exact." I knew I was getting to him. "Annie says that Julian and Sam met two years ago, and they were great friends. And you know how Sam treats her friends. She just can't say no. Why, before we know it, she'll be getting her first kiss tomorrow afternoon at that picnic."

"That's it, we're going to that picnic," Nate finnaly said like we had to save the world from distruction.

I changed my victorious face into one of shock. Not exactly the answer I was looking for. "What?"

"Sam's not ready for her first date. We're gonna sneak to the park tomorrow," Nate said, now pacing.

"Yeah," Jasson agreed, standing. "And Annie can't go out with another guy so soon. So it's a plan?"

Nate nodded. "Oh yeah."

I starred at them like they were crazy. "So what? You're just gonna invade their privacy?"

"Yeah," they both answered.

I slapped my forehead. "And to think that I'm the only one left with sense. What has the world come to?"


	7. First Kiss

--**SAM'S POV--**

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. Annie and I were dressed up for our double date and were waitng at the park.

"You were the one who suggested you date."

"Yeah but I mean with someone new. Julian's one of my old friends."

"And who better to go out with on a first date than a friend?"

I sighed. This was gonna be a pretty weird first date.

"Hey look, they're there!" Annie yelped, pointing her finger and jumping. I swear, I act more mature. Could be a mermaid thing.

"Hi Annie," Jake said as he and Annie kissed.

"Hi Jake," Annie greeted back. "So where's your little bro?"

"Right here," Jake said, stepping to the side. There I saw a 15-year old boy with sandy brown hair hair. Wow Julian's changed.

"Sam?"

I smiled. "Hey."

Annie smirked. "Come on guys, picnic table's this way."

**--SHANE'S POV--**

I was sitting in between by brothers on a high tree branch. Nate to my left, Kasson to my right. "Ok, this goes against everything I stand for, but isn't this a little extreme?"

"SHHH," Jasson and Nate said to me. Again, I was being ignored. I never thought they'd go through with this and spy on their date.

"There's that Jason guy," Nate said.

"So you are jealous," I said.

Nate looked at me. "No, I'm just worried for my best friend's first date."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever you say little bro."

**--SAM'S POV--**

"So, you're back with your old friends?" Julian asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's like a dream come true to have Nate back here at home. Even if it isn't forever."

He shrugged and we continued to eat, opposed to Annie and Jake who were having a comfortable conversation at a different table. Julian and I were a little awkward.

"This is your first date, isn't it," Julian said, as if reading my mind.

I sighed. "Pretty much. And it was Annie who suggested it. I just said I wanted to get a date and she automatically suggested you."

He laughed. "Weird about older siblings. Jake just said I was going on a double date with you and I had no choice whatsoever."

I laughed.

"So, how come you wanted to get a date?" Julian asked, now that we were comfortable. "You don't seem like the type to just want to go out with a guy all of a sudden. Let alone me."

I looked up at him. "What do you mean by that?"

He gave the that look he always used to give me. "I know you like Nate."

I blushed. "I don't like him."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you keep saying he's you're best friend. Now you're 15. You're not 13 anymore. Plus he's back with you for the mean time."

"So? I've never liked anyone before. The only reason I wanted to go on a date with someone was because I wanted to know if I'd feel any different."

He nodded understanding. "Ah, so you're wondering if you like him as a friend or more."

"Finlay someone who understands!"

Julian laughed. "Anyway, you'll be fine. And if anything goes wrong, he'll have to answer to me."

I rolled my eyes. "I still keep wondering if you're not my brother. You're so protective sometimes."

"What? A guy can't be protective of a girl?"

"I can protect myself."

"You're in a wheelchair."

"I've got a backup water gun under this thing."

He blinked. "Ok you win this time."

We both burst laughing.

"You know," I said, my laughter dieing down. "I really am enjoying myself. Not every day I get to hang out with you like when I was 13."

"Well good news, my family and I are moving to your street. At least we can see more of eachother."

I smiled. "Well that's good to know. More friends for me to keep in touch with. Maybe this first date thing isn't so bad after all."

"Then I'm glad."

Suddenly, my smile faded. I couldn't help but feel I was being watched. I had to admit, ever since that whole mermaid incident, my sensed have increased dramatically.

By instinct I got the water gun from under my wheelchair and shot it at the tree not to far from us. It only had water inside though. And you could tell how surprised Julian was. Just as I expected, someone fell from the top of the tree, that someone being Nate. At least he landed in the bush below.

I arched my eyebrows and wheeled myself over, Julian following. We looked over and saw him groaning. "Serves you right."

"So this is the Nate you were talking about? Nate Grey?" Julian asked me. I never told him Nate's last name.

I nodded. "Nate, were you spying on me?"

He tensed. "Uh, not exactly."

I shook my head. "You know, I'd expect this from Shane."

"I heard that!" Shane shouted, sticking out from under the tree upside down, which actually didn't surprise me as much as it did Nate and Julian.

"Get back up here!" Jasson shouted, pulling Shane back up with his arm.

I sighed. "And to think this morning was weird."

"I'm really sorry Sam," Nick apologized.

Julian looked behind us. "Hey, why don't we all go back to Sam's place for now?"

I sighed. "Fine. I'll go tell Annie and Jake since they seem to be the ones enjoying themselves. They're probably gonna stay here, anyway."

As I went away, Julian helped Nate stand back up. "You should keep her. She's a catch you know."

Nate blinked. "What?"

--

"I'm still mad at you guys," I said as Shane, Jasson, Nate, Julian, and I made it into my living room. "And to think that Shane was the only sensible one."

Shane gave me a look, but I didn't really seem to notice.

"We really are sorry-"

I cut Nate off. "This was my first date. And you just had to ruin it for me!"

"But-"

"Whatever, I'll be in the garage." And with that I went through the door and slammed it shut, making everyone wince.

"I've never seen Sam so mad before," Jasson said.

"But now she hates me," Nate said, sitting back down.

Julian smiled comfortingly. "I never thought that it'd be _Coonect 3 _that Sam kept teling me about when she was 13."

"She talked about us?" Shane asked.

Julian nodded. "Too much. Especially about you, Nate."

Nate's head jumped, surprised.

"She keeps telling me about how great you guys were during her childhood. And at her 13th birthday, she wished to be able to meet with you again."

"Annie says that's what she always wishes for," Nate mumbled.

"Well things don't seem to be going as planned for her wish, aren't they," Shane said sadly.

Julian sat beside Nate. "So, why _did_ you spy on Sam anyway?"

Nate blushed. "I-I wanted to make sure she'd be alright. I mean it is her first date and, um, you know."

"Trust me, Sam and I are just friends. It was actually our older siblings who set us up."

Jasson and Shane looked at eachother worryingly, hoping Nate didn't know they already knew that detail.

"And believe me, I like Sam as a little sister, and she thinks of me the same way. You on the other hand," Julian paused. "She's got a lot to think about."

Nate looked puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nate, you can be as oblivious as Sam sometimes," Jasson said. "Now, do you like Sam? More than a friend?"

"What of course not! She's my best girl friend!"

"Uh-huh," all three boys said, scaring Nate a bit, but he shook it off.

"Doesn't matter now anyways. Sam probably hates me now. She probably doesn't even consider me her best friend anymore anyway."

SHane gave Nate a comforting look. "Nah, Sam can't stay mad... can she?"

All three boys looked to Julian. He just shrugged. "To be truthful. I've never seen her mad at anyone before."

They all looked confusingly at eachother.

--

I was in the garage, in my blue spinning chair. My wheelchair was off to the side by the base of the ramp. I was playing with my paintball gun, aiming using a dartboard on the wall. I used to help with my training, or whatever you wanna call it.

"I can't believe Nate would do this," I mumbled, shooting again. "It doesn't seem like him."

"I was just protecting you," Nate said at the top.

I jumped in my seat and fired at the voice, by instinct. Lucky I missed and he jumped out of the way.

"Woah I know you're mad but no need to shoot."

I pouted and lowed my gun, glaring back at the dartboard. "I'm still mad."

He came down here. "Listen, I really am sorry. It's just, it sorta came to me as a surprise when I found out you started dating."

I looked at him. "Why? You date like it's a normal thing."

"Yeah but, well, it's different for me."

"And how is it different for me?" I asked.

He searched for an answer. "Well, things really aren't the same as they were when we were kids. Around here, there are bad guys who will try to take advantage, like that Robbie guy did with Annie."

I looked at him. His eyes showed worry. "Oh yeah."

"And I was sorta afraid that you were gonna get hurt or something so I..."

I smiled. "Thanks for worrying Nate, but you have to know I can take care of myself. Just because I'm in a wheelchair-"

"No Sam, this has nothing to do with your disability to walk."

"Then what is this about? You know I keep a back up gun under my wheelchair."

He looked at me. "Um, ok that I just figured out."

I laughed, moving up to him. "So what's bothering you about me going on a first date?"

He blushed again. "I-I..."

"FIRST KISS-" Jasson yelled from upstairs, until I heard a crash.

"SHUT IT!" Julian and Shane yelled.

I made a sly smile and Nate blushed more. "So, you were worried about my first kiss?"

"N-Nooo that's not it. I mean, it sorta is if you put it in a way or-"

"You were afraid someone would try to take advantage of me and steal my first kiss," I said slowly.

He seemed to have calmed down after I said that. "I guess you can put it that way. I mean, remember what happened during our last Christmas?"

I blinked. "Um... refresh my memory on that."

**--FLASHBACK--  
**_"Mistle toe! Mistle toe! You've gotta kiss!" Shane sang as Jasson and Annie blushed._

_Nate and I came into the room, seeing the weird moment. "What's going on?" I asked cluelessly._

_"Oh, Shane caught Annie and Jasson under the mistle toe," Nate explained._

_I looked at my best friend confused. "So what?"_

_Nate smiled. "Whenever a girl and boy are caught under a mistle toe, they have to kiss."_

_"Why?"_

_He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's a Christmas Rule or something."_

_Something flashed in my mind. "So Annie, is this gonna be your first kiss?!"_

_She flushed even more. "Um, I-I guess it is."_

_"Ghicoltif," SHane laughed as Jasson threw a piece of fruit cake at him. After that, Jasson and Annie shared their first kiss, quick, but suiting._

_"Eww," Nate and I laughed out._

_I gave him a look. "I may be 6, but I think Annie's kinda relieved."_

_"What do you mean by that?"_

_I shrugged. "I don't know, but Annie says a girl's first kiss always has to be special, no matter what."  
_**--END FLASHBACK--**

"Oh, now I remember that," I said with a blush. "Hm, now I think it makes more sense now that I'm older."

"But still, you kept saying you wanted to make sure your first kiss wasn't stolen like it usually is in the outside world," Nate reminded me. "I was just trying to protect you."

I smiled and hugged him. "Wow, that's the sweetest thing you've ever done for me, Nate."

He blushed and hugged back. "No problem, Sam. So I take it I'm forgiven?"

I nodded and let go. "Yeah. You're forgiven. And one more thing. You don't have to worry about my first kiss being stolen anymore."

Nate gave me a confused look. "Why's that?"

I suddenly kissed Nate on the lips. After four seconds I parted and smiled. I giggled at the expression he had. "There. Now I had my first kiss with my best friend. At least it won't be stolen anymore."

"Uh, y-yeah, g-good to know."

I smiled and wheeled myself back to my wheelchair and headed back up stairs.

_'Sam just kissed me... to save her first kiss... Maybe I do like her? If I didn't, I never would have spied on her. And I wouldn't even be questioning myself. Man girls are so confusing. Sam especially.'_


	8. Ignoring and Missing

The next week came by fast. As far as the date went, everything seemed to be ok. I'm still kinda troubled by my feelings for Nate, but I won't let it get to me. I'm still happy. And Julian and his family moved across the street, so that's good. And at least Annie has a boyfriend! And she's sticking with him too. So she won't be dating for a while. Think that's good right? Wrong.  
Jasson gets upset about it easily. Now I know how they feel about me and Nate. I just realized they think we'd make a good couple. Annie sure was right when she said I was oblivious. I never even noticed Nate blushing around me. Too late, he already has a girlfriend.

I was on my labtop, watching anime, in my bed. The guys said they were going somewhere for this meeting or something. I dunno, didn't bother asking. But, Nate said he set aside some time for us, just the two of us, at the park. I thought that was nice. We could have our special time like we used to as kids.

"Wait," I said, remembering somehting. "Ghicoltif... great, stage 2. He's gonna try speniding time with me... Wait Sam! Don't give in. It's life! Ghicoltif does not exhist."

I jumped out of my bed and jumped into my wheelchair. I went to the living room to find that Annie wasn't here.

"Annie!" No answer. "Oh well, she probably went out somewhere with Jake again." I figured I knew my neighborhood pretty well and went out by myself.

--**NATE'S POV--**

I was sitting at the park bench. Sam was gonna be here in a few minutes. We could have our little moments again. But before I left the hotel, Jasson and Shane had a talk with me.

--**FLASHBACK--  
**_"No she doesn't."_

_"Yes she does!" Shane and Jasson yelled in unison._

_"She's my best friend!"_

_"Best friends fall in love," Aiden piped in. Great, now they're all against me._

_"How would you know?" _

_"Sam talked to me," Shane said._

_Jasson and Aiden looked at him. "You did?"_

_"You did?" I repeated._

_He nodded. "Yeah! She says she doesn't know how she feels about Nate."_

_I looked at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?" _

_Shanerubbed his temples. "She said she's trying to figure out if she likes you as a friend or more. Isn't it obvious?"_

_"I don't see her acting any differently."_

_"That's because girls a good at that!" Shane retorted._

_Jasson shook his head. "Nate, how about you call Sam. Tell her to meet you at the park this afternoon. This way, you can both sort this out without anyone interfering."_

SHane blinked. "That'd actually a good idea."

_I sighed. "This had better work." By now, that Bhicoltif stuff they blabbered about was starting to make sence. Stage two, Sam's trying to figure out her feelings for me. And if she told Shane, it must be true... Then there's gonna be stage three to worry about.  
_--**END FLASHBACK--**

I was actually wondering myself. _Do_ I like Sam more than a friend? She's amazing, that's for sure. And she's unique too, in a good way. But she's my best friend for crying out loud.

"You seem troubled," said a familiar voice.

I looked up, seeing Bianca. "Oh, hey."

She smiled and sat down on the bench beside me. "Nate, ever since last week when we started going out, you've been acting weird."

"I'm sorry. It's just that Sam, well-"

She giggled. "Don't say anymore, Nate. I know what this is about."

I looked at her surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah, I'm a girl, so I know what Sam's going through. And apparently, you're going through it, too."

"Going through what?"

"Bhicoltif. But in Sam's case Ghicoltif."

Ghicoltif? "How did you know-"

"Shane told me."

"Ah."

She smiled. "Well, do you like Sam more than a friend?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never felt so confused about a girl before."

"Well, if you're struggling with your feelings on Sam, maybe we should just stop dating here."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right. I'm really sorry."

"Nah, don't be. I think Sam's a pretty lucky girl if you're thinking so much about her."

I sighed. "Yeah... Especially with that kiss."

She looked at me. "You kissed her?"

I smiled. "Yeah, last week. We remembered about our talk about first kisses when we were younger. And then she somehow got out of me I was worried about some guy ruining her first kiss."

She looked at me surprised. "So you kissed her?"

"No, she kissed me. She said now I won't have to worry about anyone stealing her first kiss."

Bianca laughed. "Shane's right about that Stage 1 part. And based on what I'm hearing, you're in stage 2?"

I looked down at my feet. "I guess Sam and I are both on stage 2."

"Well, let me ask you this then. Did you feel anything in that kiss?" Bianca asked.

I thought about it. "I don't know. It was short, but I felt... I don't know, something, like a spark. I don't know if I felt it or not before, but there was definitely a spark."

"And there's your answer."

I looked at her. "You know a lot of things, don't you."

She nodded. "Well I'm experienced in dating. So I think I know what's going on in your case with the best friend situation."

"But I'm still confused. If the kiss is really that different with Sam, maybe... maybe I do have feelings for her."

"So how are you gonna tell?"

I looked at Bianca. She seemed to be understanding what I was going through. Suddenly, I felt myself grab the sides of her face and quickly pull her into a deep kiss. This was more than Sam's short peck on the lips kiss, but something was different. There was no spark. And if Sam's peck on the lips can do that much of a spark, then maybe there really is something going on between me and her.

--**SAM'S POV--**

I headed over to the park, where Nate said I'd meet him. And guess what I saw there. At the bench, I saw Nate, and Bianca. They were talking. Nate seemed a little nervous about something, I could see it from all the way here. Then all of a sudden, he grabbed her face and just started kissing her. This turned into a make out session and all I could do was stare. I didn't know why, but I felt like I didn't even know him anymore. I picture the 7-year old Nate, my old childhood friend. And now here, in front of my eyes, I see him making out with his girlfriend. I know he's dated and kissed before, but it just hurt me for some reason.

Before I knew it, I was heading back home, rushing myself. I just couldn't face Nate right now. Well, stage 2 went by fast. Here's stage 3, ignore, ignore, ignore.

--**NATE'S POV--  
**We finnaly broke for air. It seemed like a long time too. But as long and deep we kissed, no spark, nothing.

"Well?" Bianca asked, surprise by my suddenness.

"Nothing," I sighed out.

She looked down and nodded. "Well, now you know. With Sam, there's a spark, even with me around."

"Wait," I said, seeing Sam in her wheelchair, heading out of the park. "Oh man, she must have seen us."

Bianca's eyes widened. "Sam, she must feel so hurt right now."

I looked down, guilt washed all over me. "I've gotta go find her."

She nodded. "Good luck."

--**SAM'S POV--**

I rushed back home. Annie was in the kitchen cooking and noticed me crying. "Sam are you ok?"

"I'll be in my room," I said quickly, shutting my bedroom door, locked.

Annie starred and closed the front door. "I hope you're alright."

I went into the bathroom and filled up the tub. I jumped in and let my legs turn into my mer tail. I've been doing this secretly for the past week. I really do find it comforting, but not now. I don't think anything can cheer me up. And Nate, he was the last person I wanted to see.

I heard my cellphone ring from the side of my wheelchair. I picked it up and saw Nate's picture. I pressed the ignore button and placed it back on my wheelchair. I sank into the water to the point all of me was submerged. I could breath down here anyway. _'_

_'Why?'_

Nate called me for the past hour. He eventually gave up and I fell asleep in the water. I do this a lot. Annie didn't mind. But as I slept, I let my salty tears merge with the water.

--

"Is she here?" Julian asked.

"Sorry Julian, Sam's sorta having a moment right now," Annie said, knowing I was in the bathroom as a mermaid.

He sat down on the couch. "Is she ok?"

"She came here crying," Annie told. "She's probably still in the bathroom sleeping."

"What?"

"I mean weeping!"

Julian rubbed his fingers thorugh hair. "I wonder what happened with her."

"I'm wondering too," Annie said. "I'm her older sister, so she won't talk to me."

"I can talk to her if you want."

Annie's eyes widened. "No! I mean, she's probably busy right now! Sam's never been this upset since the Grey Family left. She might be dealing with this her own way."

"How?"

_'By sleeping in the bath tub.'  
_  
Another week had passed. By the end of the week, Nate and his family will be leaving for tour again. And I'll probably never see them again. I'll miss Shane, Jasson, and Aiden, but Nate, I don't know yet. I haven't talk to him at all during the entire week. I ignored his phone calls, e-mails, and when he attempts to visit, I'm either locked in the bathroom, or the garage working on my guns.

I sighed, looking at the picture of us on my work desk. "I still never got a new frame for you, didn't I."

I picked it up and traced my finger over the photo. I just wished I could go back in time, where things were normal and we were best friends. Where I could still walk and didn't have to deal with this wheelchair and mermaid genes.

I placed it in my lap and got out of the garage upstairs. I noticed Annie was gone again, on a another date with Jake. Jasson must hate the guy by now. I laughed at the thought. I went through the front door and decided to go to the park again.

--

There, I left the rare, cool breeze come onto my face. I looked at the playground and remembered me and the Grey Family playing. I remembered when I was 13 and I brought Julian here, telling him my stories about my childhood when I could walk. I remembered when I came here with Nate not too long ago and he tried to encourage me on the monkey bars.

I wheeled myself there, under the monkey bars. I tried to reach for it, but it was too high. "I wish we still had our childhood innocence... At least then we treated eachother like normal people."

Ever since Nate came back, there was nothing but awkwardness for either of us. And I was oblivious to it for the first half. Nate's leaving in two days. Oh well, he probably doesn't even like me that way. I can't walk, I'm helpless, weird, and part mermaid to add it all together. And I think he made that clear when he kissed Bianca. I don't have anything against her, but I do against Nate.

Before I could try and think about the situation, I felt a hand around my mouth and a knife to my neck. "You're coming with us, fish girl."

My eyes widened and I was hit in the back of my neck, a pressure point or something. I suddenly passed out, and felt myself being carried away.

--**ANNIE'S POV--**

Jake and I had to break our date early. He said he had to go to his job early.

I arrived home and saw Nate waiting at the front door. I smiled sympathetically. "Still haven't talked to her?"

He shook his head. "No. She's ignoring me. I noticed the car was out of the drive way so I waited for you so you could let me in."

I smiled. "Smart boy. At least she won't know you're here. Come on."

He smiled and I took my keys out. I opened the door and placed my bag on the counter. "Sam! I'm home!"

No answer. Probably in the garage. Nate looked there and the door was open, lights closed. "She's not down there."

_'Maybe the bathroom.'_

I walked to her room and saw the bathroom empty too. "Weird, she's not in the house."

"Sam!" Nate called, running around the place.

I groaned. "Maybe she's with your brothers. Call them."

I watched worryingly as Nate called Shane and Jasson. "Sorry, she's not there either."

I looked down with a frustrated look. "Oh man, I wonder what she's gotten herself into this time."

--**NATE'S POV--  
**  
We spent the entire day looking for her. Me, Bianca, Shane, Jasson, Aiden, Julian, and Annie. Maybe now I realised my feelings for her... Nice timing Nate, right when she goes missing.

"She's not at the mall either," Jasson said as all of us met back up at Annie's house.

"She's not answering her phone either," Shane said, closing his cell.

"Is Sam missing?" Aiden asked, worryingly.

"We don't kow," Bianca said, rubbing the small boy's back. "Nate, you know Sam the most. Where would she be?"

I through for a minute, until it snapped. "The park." I whispered.

"The what?" Annie asked.

"The park! She's gotta be there!"

Jasson stood up. "Nate, it's dark out already. Maybe we should start looking again tomorrow."

"No she's gotta be there! I know it!"

Before anyone could oppose, I was already out the door.

Shane grabbed his jacket. "Jasson, you take Bianca and Aiden back to the hotel! I'll follow Nate!"

I arrived at the playground, Shane behind me. I would around with my phone as a flashlight. "Sam!" I called out desperately. As I ran I felt my foot step on something. I knelt down and picked it up. It was Sam's picture of me and her as kids, in that oh-so famous photo frame she keeps saying she'll replace with a fancier one. She's been forgetful of that for a while.

"Nate you find her?" Shane asked, cathing up to me.

"No, but she's been here," I said, standing up but not taking my eyes off the photo.

Shane placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, let's grab a bus and head to the hotel. We'll start looking tomorrow morning."

"But-"

"We'll have a better chance of finding her when it's light out. Don't worry, Sam's a strong girl. She's gonna be fine."

I nodded, following Shane.

--

"You sure this was where you found the photo?" Jasson asked.

I nodded, sitting on top of the monkey bars. It was morning now. "Yeah, she's been here."

Annie looked at the picture I gave her. "I know Sam would never loose this. It's too important to her."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe she went out here to bury it."

"Come on Nate, she doesn't hate you _that_ much," Bianca said beneath me.

"Still," I sighed out.

"Is there any way we can try to find Sam?" Aiden asked as he yawned. It was pretty early, but I wanted to get a head start. I couldn't sleep at all last night with the thought Sam could be in danger.

Just then, Julian's mind clicked. "Wait. I got an idea."

"You do?" I asked. "What is it?"

"A few days ago, Sam told me she was working on a tracking device for her guns."

Shane looked at the 15-year old boy. "So what?"

"Sam says she keeps a water gun under her wheelchair all the time, right?" Julain asked. "If we find her wheelchair, we might find Sam!"

We all rushed into Annie's van. We drove to her place and into the garage. I arrived at her work desk first and saw a remote thing, probably finished.

"That's it," Julian said, catching his breath from all the running.

I started testing the buttons and tried to locate the one with her wheelchair. "On Downstreet Avenue."

"By the harbor, right?" Shane asked.

Annie's eyes widened. "Oh no."

I looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"No, Sam _cannot_ be by water."

"Are you still upset about the swimming incident?" Jasson asked her.

"No! S-She... She just can't be by water!"

I groaned. "Whatever! Annie you drive Aiden and Julian to the hotel and wait there in case we need back up. Me, Shane, Jasson, and Bianca will head over to the harbor and try to find her."

Annie nodded. "Alright, but please, you must keep Sam out of the water."

Even though I didn't understand, I nodded. We got into Jasson's car and he started the ignition.

"Hey Nate," Julian said from the open window. "You better find Sam."

I smiled. "You got it."

And with that we drove off with Jasson trying not to speed. We were all worried.

--

"It should be around this corner," Bianca said, running along the instructions of the map tracking device. We made the turn and came face to face with a giant dumpster.

"Sam's in there?" Jasson asked, covering his nose.

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe. Give me a boost."

I got onto Jasson's shoulders and gave me the lift. I looked over and noticed how huge this thing was. And stinky too. In a distance, I saw Sam's wheelchair, but no Sam.

"You find her?!" Shane yelled, making me loose my balance and fall off Jasson. We both hit the ground with a loud thud. Not the best landing.

"She's not in there," I groaned as Bianca helped me up. "But her wheelchair is."

Jasson gave me a look as Joe helped him up. "What would her wheelchair be doing in a dumpster?"

"I don't know, but this can't be good. Something must have happened."

"Hey guys," Bianca interuptd, pointing to the ground. She knelt down and picked up something. "Is this... a scale?"

She gave it to me and I looked at it closely. "Yeah..."

"Weird," Shane said. "Maybe it's a fish's. This is a harbor anyway."

"But look at the color," Kevin said. "This is so no a fish scale."

"And there's more of them," Bianca said, seeing a trail of them. "They lead into that warehouse."

"Sam might be in there," I muttered, running and following the trail.

The inside was almost hallow, but there was a staircase. From it, there was a scream.

"Let me out of here!" yelled Sam's voice.

"She's in there," Jasson whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah, come on."

We walked inside and I peered in down the stair case. I saw Sam tied in a rope, dangling above a large tank of water, like a ginormous aquarium. Maybe there was more to this 'don't-let-Sam-in-the-water' thing Annie keeps telling us about. But what surprised me more, was the person in charge. There was Jake, and Christi.

"I still can't beleive this," Sam said in an angry tone.

"What? That I'd kidnap you?" Jake asked with a satisfied smirk on his face.

She rolled her eyes. "No, that you'd cheat on Annie for Christi. I mean, ew much?"

Christi crossed her arms. "I'd keep quiet if I were you, Samantha. Nate won't be coming to your rescue anymore."

"And why are you doing this anyway?" Sam asked.

"You see, I had Christi here try to get you to fall into that water in the hotel pool. I needed to see if you had that mer gene I've been trying to hard to find."

Her eyes widened. "You mean you knew?"

Jake laughed. "Any mermaid hunter would know that."

My eyes widened. "Mermaid hunter?"

"What's going on, Nate?" Shane asked.

I got back up. "It's Sam. Jake and Christi kidnapped her. They say she has something about a mermaid gene or something. And they're mermaid hunters to make it worse."

"So that's what Annie told us about," Shane remembered.

"Wait, does that mean Sam's a mermaid?" Jasson asked. The three of us looked at eachother in shock.

Bianca groaned. "You guys! Focus! If you havcen't noticed, Sam was just kidnapped by _mermaid hunters_!!"

"I guess she can't get near water then," Jasson sighed out.

"Great, she dangling above a huge tank of water," I said, lost for ideas.

"I'lll distract them," Bianca said. "They don't know about me being with you guys yet. When I get their attention, you've gotta try and get Sam."

We nodded and ran.


	9. A New Frame

bianca called into the basement and got the attention of Jake and Christi who were somewhat star struck.

Me, Jasson, and Shane sneaked down the stairs and saw Sam trying to wiggle her way out.

"Sam!" I yelled.

She looked up. "You guys? What are you doing here?"

"Saving you," Jasson answered, climbing up some stairs with scissors. He looked down into the water, seeing a shark below. "Didn't see that."

"Who cares! Can you get Sam out?" Shane yelled from the bottom.

"Not without Sam or me falling to our death as shark bait," Jasson said, still starring at the tank.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Nate, you see that net shooting gun?!"

I looked and found it on a table. "Yeah!"

"Place the scizzors in the front. Press the button and fire it at the rope holding me!"

"But the shark!" Shane yelled, starring at the tank too.

"I've delt with much worse!"

"What could be worse than a shark?" Jasson asked.

Sam groaned. "Just shoot the scissors and make sure not to hit me!"

I grabbed the scissors from Jasson and loaded it into the water gun. I definitely was _not _gonna trust Jasson with shooting scissors. I fired it at the rope holding Sam with a clear shot as she fell into the water.

"Sam!" Jasson and Shane yelled, watcing from below.

By instinct I jumped into the water. I was just to scared that shark would get to her while she's tied up. I swam deeper and I found her. By surprise, I saw her about to loose air. Just there, I watched in surprise as she turned her legs into mermaid tail and her breathed in, relief all over her face.

My jaw would have dropped if I weren't underwater. And I would have used common sense to swim up for more air but instead I dove deeper to try and untie Sam from the ropes. I swam to the bottom and found the scissors. I cut the ropes up and let her swim. By now, I was out of breath. At least Sam was OK.

--**SAM'S POV--**

Nate swam down and cut the ropes around me with the scissors on the bottom of the tank. I was surprised he'd help me, wth how I've treated him and about my secret being part fish. Maybe I should forgive him? Finally, I was free and I swam up from the ground, a smile of me face. But it faded as I saw Nate's eyes close and his body stop moving, growing limp.

I gasped and I grasped onto him, wrapping my arms around his chest. I used my tail and swam up as fast as I could. Weird how I could feel so free down here, unlike how I did back on land.

I arrived at the top, where Joe was. Jasson and Shane were here too. I gave them Nate and they set him down. Shane was surprised to see my tail, but he pulled me up nontheless. Once I was out of the water, my legs came back and I tried to catch by breath, getting used to breathing air again.

"Woah I didn't see that coming," Shane said quickly.

"I'll... explain... later," I panted.

"Hey Nick, Nick wake up," Jasson said, trying to get him to wake up.

I dragged myself over to him. "Nate...?"

No answer. I shook him a little, tears forming in my eyes. "Nate!!"

Still no answer. Jasson and Shane looked at eachother and then down.

I was crying by now. "Nate wake up! Wake up!" I started crying on his chest as the guys tried to comfort me.

"... I ain't dead yet you know," I heard Nate whisper.

My eyes widened and I backed up a little, seeing his eyes barely open. I smiled and threw my arms around his neck. "Man, don't scare me like that. I thought I lost you."

I felt his strong arms wrap around me, too. "Don't worry. I'm not leaving you again."

"Aw, group hug!  
Jasson laughed as he joine din the hug too, dragging Shane into it too.

I laughed. "I suppose things are back to normal?"

"At least our version of normal," Nate said laughing.

"Not exactly," said a familiar voice.

We all looked and saw Christi and Jake, holding Bianca with her hands behind her back.

"Bianca," Nate whispered.

"Sorry guys," Bianca said, struggling to get out from their grasp.

"Aw, how touching, the mermaid and her prince," Christi teased. "And I thougt you were supposed to be shark chow by now. I would have had Nate Grey all to myself."

I glared. "In your dreams, Christi."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Oh well, I just planned on killing the mermaid girl after some explanations, but I guess I'll have to get rid of all of you."

"Wait, what explanations?" I asked.

Jake smirked. "Your parents, one of them had to have had that mermaid gene. My parents were still investigating on the case. They're mermaid hunters, too. So, you can guess how we got rid of them."

Anger flared in my eyes. "You... it's because of you and your family, you killed my parents."

Christi scoffed. "About time you figured it out. And I thought you were supposed to be a genius."

Jake smirked. "I would have killed Annie too, but she doesn't have the mermaid gene."

Jasson glared. "Is that the only reason you dated her? Just to get your filty hands on some info?"

"Prtety much," Jake answered simply.

We had to hold down Jasson from strangling Jake. Although, wouldn't have been so bad, strangling the bad guys. But they had Bianca right now. We couldn't risk anything.

"So, how are you gonna kill us?" I asked.

"Well, we'll kill _you _first," Christi said with that prissy voice of hers. "And in front of Connect 3, too. Nothing better than torture before death."

I mimicked her mouth movements. "Whatever, you spoiled princess."

Jake laughed. "I wouldn't be in the mood for name calling, Samantha. If you haven't noticed," he brought out a gun. "We have the upper hand here."

Nate stood protectively in front of me. "You'll have to get past me first."

Jake smirked, pointing the gun. "If you insist."

"I wouldn't think so," said a voice. We looked at the stairs and saw Aiden, Annie, and Julian, holding my guns from my garage.

"Sam those yours?" Shane asked.

I nodded. "The paint ball guns... those are gonna hurt."

"FIRE!" Aiden yelled, shooting off paint balls. They starting hitting Christi and she kept shouting each time they hit her. By the time Aiden was done, she was on the ground.

Nate, Shane. and Jasson starred in complete shock while I grinned. "Now I know those will go on the Torture Shelf."

The guys starred at me. "You have a torture shelf?"

Jake glared and threw Bianca to the side. "I've had enough of this nonsense-"

Annie jumped on his back, pulling on his hair. "I don't thiknk so, _boyfirend_!"

"AH! GET OFF ME!"

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE!"

He dropped the gun and Julian picked it up, grinning at us. "How's that for back-up?"

I gave him a thumbs up. "Great work guys!"

"Can I fire away at Jake with my paint ball gun?" Aiden asked.

All of us shrugged and let Aiden do what he wanted. Boy do I feel bad for Jake, being attacked by a 19-year old woman and a 7-year old kid with a paint ball gun... Isn't life just grand?

--

"She's a mermaid I tell you! A mermaid!"

The police took Jake and Christi away, probably to a mental facility. Who'd believe I was a mermaid anyway? And by now, Jake's and Julain's parents were arrested for murder of my parents and, well, shooting of my legs.

"Well, ain't this a happy ending for Nate and Sam," Jasson said.

Annie hooked her arm around his. "Not just them."

Jasson blushed and looked down at Annie, who was smiling.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Shane laughed.

"Still, it's not over yet," Julian said, looking at Nate.

"What?" Nate asked.

"You still gotta tell Sam you like her," Julian said.

Nate sighed, seeing Bianca and me talking. "Maybe I should."

"When?" Shane asked.

"Right now."

--

"I broke up with Nate," Bianca told me.

I arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, I know he has feelings for you."

I blushed."He does?"

She smiled. "Yeah. He said when you gave him your first kiss, he said there were sparks or something. Then when he kissed me, he said there was nothing, no matter how passionate the kiss was. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

I nodded. "It's alright. Everything else I go through is messed up anyway."

She smiled. "Friends?"

"Yup."

And with that we hugged. Finnaly, friend that's a girl. And a famous celebrety one at that.

"Hey guys," Nate greeted, walking over to us.

"Um, I think I'm gonna go see how the others are doing," Bianca said, winking at me before walking away.

"So, what's up?" I asked, sitting up straight.

He picked me up on his back. "Come on, we need to talk."

We walked over to a private spot on the docks. We sat down at the end of the pier, letting our feet swing above the water. It was really amazing here. Nice sunset, no distractions, just me and my best friend. Just like the good old times in chidlhood.

"So what is it you need to tell me?" I asked.

"Well, I know that the past few weeks have been a little... hectic, but I really am sorry for what i did. I mean about me kissing Bianca in front of you-"

"Don't worry, she explained it to me."

"She did?"

I nodded. "And I'm sorry if ignoring you for such a stupid reason. I've wasted your whole vacation."

"Well, you didn't totally waste it. We still have about a day left."

I rolled my eyes. "Not a lot of time when you think about it."

"True."

I smiled and punched his arm.

"Uh, listen Sam, I know that we're, uh, best friends and all but um," he blushed as he said this. "Uh, but I sorta, kinda, like you, more than a friend. I guess I always have but just haven't realised it."

I looked down at my feet. "I see... Are you trying to ask me out?"

"Um... I guess I am."

I smiled. I've never seen Nate so nervous in his life. "You mean with kissing, hand holding, calling eachother and annoying our older siblings with phone bills."

Nate laughed. "Yeah, if you want to put it that way."

I kissed him on the cheek.

He smiled, looking me in the eye, finally. "So does this mean we're boyfriend-girlfriend?"

"No more best boy friend or best girl friend?"

"I don't think so."

"Then I'd be glad to accept, Nathan Grey."

"Then I'm proud to announce my current girlfriend, Samantha Ashton."

And finally, we had our kiss. And he was right, there was definitely a spark. And it was a passionate kiss too. Maybe the outside world was just what I needed after all.

--  
Well, things are going good. I got another wheelchair. And get this, Jasson and Annie are finally going out. About time right?  
As for Julian, he's moving in with me and Annie since his whole family's, well, in the nut house. Ain't that great? And my secret about being a mermaid won't have to be kept from those guys anymore.

"You have to leave?" I asked as I saw the bus pull up in the drive way.

"Won't be too long," Nate assured me. "And I promise, we won't loose contact again."

I smiled. "Good. I wouldn't want to see you again after another whole 8 years."

Nate nodded. "Right. Jason you watch her alright?"

Jason saluted. "I'll scare of any guy that comes near her."

I pouted. "You guys are so lucky I can't walk right now."

They both laughed.

"But, I suppose Shane was right," I said.

"Right about what?" Nate asked.

"Bhicoltf and Ghicoltif," I said with a stiffled laugh. "In the end it seems like a real thing."

Nate shrugged. "Let's keep that between us."

"Deal."

"Come on Nate! We gotta go!" Aiden called from the bus, Jasson and Shane already there. Nate gave me one more hug.

"I'll see you soon, Nate."

"Same to you," he said, pulling back. "Oh, and check your work desk in the garage. I left you a gift there."

"And the next time you come here, we're going camping!"

He laughed, remembering that conversation in the park. "Definitly."

I nodded and waved as he got onto the bus. Me, Julian, and Annie waved them off and they drove away, to their next destination in their adventurous life, living the dream.

I did as nate said, I went to the garage. You wouldn't believe what I saw there.

"Oh Nate," I laughed, seeing the picture of me and him as little kids, with a new frame. It was fancy, and glass covered the front. At the top, it said: Best Friends Forever. And to think, me, a wheelchair-bound girl, part mermaid, made it as the current girlfriend of Nate Grey from Connect 3. Oh well, I've been through worse, but I've never been through anything more awesome.


End file.
